SIA Group's passenger carriage down 96.6% but 'calibrated expansion' expected in coming months

Singapore Airlines Group’s overall passenger carriage for February fell by 96.6% year-on-year, as demand for air travel continued to be “severely dampened” due to COVID-19. But the group sounded a note of optimism in light of the global vaccination drive, especially in its main markets. "The growing pace of vaccinations ... supports cautious optimism for a measured recovery in the demand for air travel in the second half of 2021,” the group said as it announced its February operating results on Monday. Passenger carriage, measured in revenue passenger-kilometres, for SIA was down by 96% year-on-year in February, while SilkAir's passenger carriage fell 97.3% year-on-year. Budget carrier Scoot saw its passenger carriage fall by 98.8% year-on-year. In February, SIA continued to operate a similar network as the previous month, connecting Singapore to 40 metro cities. All route regions served by the SIA Group continued to record year-on-year increases in cargo load factor in February. The SIA Group expects to see “a calibrated expansion of the passenger network” in the coming months, it said. <br/>