A resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic in the Asia-Pacific, as well as tougher quarantine rules at home, appear at odds with the Singapore Airlines Group’s steady ratcheting up of capacity.
Bad news has come thick and fast in Singapore. Hours after the perennially-delayed Hong Kong travel bubble was again pushed back — this time owing to a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases in Singapore — the World Economic Forum cancelled its Singapore meeting in August. The event had been anticipated as a stage for the Southeast Asian country to showcase its ability to conduct major events safely.
And despite Singapore’s having one of Asia’s leading vaccination drives, a rise in Covid-19 cases locally — a significant number of them with no known links — has seen the government impose a number of restrictions: schools are closed, dining-in at restaurants prohibited, and group sizes limited to two individuals.
Amid all the gloom, the SIA Group — comprising Singapore Airlines, Scoot, and Silkair — released somewhat more upbeat news with its traffic figures for April. The group declared another month of capacity growth, stating that it operated nearly one quarter of pre-pandemic passenger capacity during the month.
Capacity as measured by ASKs climbed eightfold from a year earlier, and passengers carried rose more than tenfold to just over 110,000.
According to its regular traffic updates, SIA has consistently beefed up group ASKs in 2021, rising 16% from January to April.
Cargo capacity was up over the last 12 months, growing 49.9 % year on year — impressive, but far off the pace of passenger capacity growth. FTKs rose 82.7% and freight carried doubled.
“Despite growing optimism due to the increased pace of vaccinations around the world, border controls and travel restrictions remained largely in place following new waves of Covid-19 infections and the emergence of more virulent strains of the virus,” says SIA.
Indeed, Asia-Pacific…