SIA’s airfares down slightly from April-Sept; CEO says ticket prices remain high industrywide

The aviation industry as a whole, and not just Singapore Airlines (SIA), has priced airfares high as air travel continues to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, said the national carrier’s CE Goh Choon Phong. Asked whether prices for flight tickets have peaked, he pointed to softening passenger yields – a proxy for airfares – as rival airlines have added more capacity. He said SIA does not set its prices in isolation. Instead, it looks at what competitors offering similar products are doing – comparing similar non-stop flights, for instance – and ensures that the price disparity is not too big. “We have always said that pricing is a function of demand and supply, and it is, even during this whole Covid-19 period... Going forward, it’s the same,” he told the media on Wednesday during a wide-ranging interview after his company posted record earnings for the first half of its financial year from April to September. For the first half of financial year 2023/24, SIA Group’s passenger yield was 10.8 cents per passenger-km, down from 11.8 cents for the whole of financial year 2022/23 and 13.6 cents for FY21/22. Passenger yield is a measure representing the average fare paid by a passenger for each kilometre flown. In comparison, the group’s passenger yield for financial year 2019/20 was 9.1c per passenger-km. SIA Group, which includes low-cost carrier Scoot, reported a first-half net profit of $1.44b, up 55% from $927m for the same period a year ago.<br/>