Singapore Airlines posts $106 million third-quarter loss as passenger numbers fall

This was to happen in times of the pandemic. Air travel internationally has become a problem as most countries around the world have sealed their borders making landing and flying off a difficult task.  It’s but natural then that people are wary of flying making income from passengers dip.

A first case has come to light.

Singapore Airlines Ltd has reportedly posted a S$142 million ($106.36 million) net loss in the third quarter as passenger numbers plunged by 97.6 per cent due to the pandemic though its cargo business held up better given a tight freight market.

The loss compared with the prior year's S$315 million profit in the quarter ended Dec. 31. Revenue fell 76.1 per cent  to S$1.07 billion.

The bottom line loss was slimmer than its S$331 million operating loss due to a tax credit, impairment charges while UBS had forecast a net loss of S$330 million.

Singapore Airlines operated around 19 per cent of its pre-pandemic passenger capacity in December and said that it expected to reach around 25  per cent of normal levels by the end of April as it adds flights to its schedule despite the spread of more transmissible variants of the Coronavirus.

The carrier will begin operating Boeing Co 737-800 planes from March as part of a plan to merge its regional offshoot SilkAir into the parent with full integration expected by March 2022.