SIA earnings bounce back in Q3, partly due to VTLs

Singapore Airlines posted its best quarterly results since the pandemic began, thanks to stronger cargo and passenger performances, due in part to the introduction of vaccinated travel lanes (VTLs). The airline racked up net profit of $85m for Q3 of financial year 2021/2022 on the back of a revenue of $2.32b. This compares with a loss of $142m in the October to December period in 2020 on turnover of just $1.07b. Despite strong numbers for the three months to Dec 31 - traditionally a peak travel time - the group remained in the red for the first nine months of the year to the tune of $752 million. Still, this is a huge turnaround from a loss of $3.61 billion during the same period in 2020 at the height of the pandemic. Revenue for the nine months rose 90 per cent to $5.14b from $2.7b a year earlier. The expansion of operations resulted in expenditure growing $842 million year on year to $2.24b in Q3 of financial year 2021/2022. Net fuel costs rose to $633m, mainly on higher prices and an increase in volume, which was partially offset by a swing from a fuel hedging loss to a gain. Group expenditure increased by $791m year on year to $5.7b. The SIA group carried 1.1m people in Q3, including 646,000 who travelled in December last year alone. The numbers were double that of the second quarter and more than five times the number from Q3 2020. But this is still a far cry from the pre-Covid-19 numbers when the SIA group - SIA, Silkair and Scoot - carried 5.89m passengers during the period from October to December in 2019 (Silkair has now been absorbed into the SIA fleet).<br/>