Singapore Airlines (SIA) on Thursday (Feb 20) reported that it experienced its highest quarterly revenue, driven by strong demand for air travel toward the end of 2024. However, while the airline increased its capacity, the number of passengers it carried didn’t grow as much as expected.
As a result, the excess capacity led to more competition among airlines, which caused airfares to decrease.
Airfares, measured by “yields,” dropped 4.5% in the third quarter as the airline added more seats to its network than the number of passengers it carried.
Group revenue grew 2.7% to a record S$5.2 billion from a year earlier, the airline said.
Air India and Vistara merge
The company’s net profit more than doubled in the third quarter ending December 31, 2024, rising 146.7% to S$1.6 billion, up from S$659 million in 2023.
SIA reported that the rise in profit resulted from the merger of Air India and Vistara in November 2024—due to the S$1.1 billion non-cash accounting gain from the disposal of Vistara as part of the merger deal.
Vistara was a joint venture between Tata Sons, an Indian holding company, and SIA, which owned about 49%.
The deal gave SIA a 25.1% stake in the Air India group, while Tata, which operates in sectors like automobiles and steel, holds the majority 74.9% in the merged company.
Higher passenger revenue and operating profits
The group, which includes SIA and Scoot, reached a record revenue of S$5.22 billion for the three months ending December 31, 2024, up S$137 million from the same time last year.
Passenger revenue increased by S$70 million, with SIA and Scoot carrying a record 10.2 million passengers—a 7.2% rise compared to the same quarter in 2023.
The group’s total spending rose by S$117 million to S$5 million. This increase was mainly due to higher non-fuel costs, which went up by S$258 million.
However, the rise in spending was partially offset by a S$142 million drop in fuel costs.
Despite this, the group made an operating profit of S$629 million in the third quarter, S$20 million higher than the same quarter last year.
More passenger services in the upcoming months
SIA Group has added more aircrafts including one Airbus in December 2024 while Scoot added three Embraer aircraft in the third quarter.
The group has also launched services to new countries in late 2024, with plans to introduce more flights to other countries in the upcoming months. This includes:
- Beijing Daxing, China, in November 2024
- Malacca, Malaysia, in October 2024
- Phu Quoc, Vietnam, in December 2024
The Group’s passenger network has covered 129 destinations in 36 countries and territories, with SIA serving 80 destinations and Scoot serving 72 destinations, as of December 31, 2024.
The cargo network reached 133 destinations in 37 countries and territories.
SIA has recently launched flights to Padang, Indonesia, and Shantou, China, in January 2025.
From late March to October 2025, passengers can look forward to more services to Brisbane, Australia; Colombo, Sri Lanka; and Johannesburg, South Africa.
Scoot will also increase its services to Iloilo City, Philippines, starting from April, and Vienna, Austria from June.
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