SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) – Singapore Airlines (SIA) will replace its fleet of Boeing 747-400F freighters with the newly launched, more fuel-efficient Airbus A350F freighter aircraft.
The national carrier has signed a letter of intent with the French planemaker to purchase 7 A350F freighters, with options for another 5, the mainboard-listed airline group said in a bourse filing on Wednesday (Dec 15).
It added that the deliveries are scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2025, making SIA the first airline to operate this new generation widebody freighter aircraft.
The freighters, under the agreement, will be delivered in place of 15 A320neo and 2 A350-900 passenger aircraft that are in its order book. This allows, SIA noted, the airline group to manage its capital expenditure, while continuing with the essential freighter renewal.
The A350F can carry a similar volume of freight as the Boeing 747-400F, but burns up to 40 per cent less fuel and features a longer range.
The renewal comes as the group reported a record cargo-flown revenue of over S$1.8 billion for the first half of financial year 2022 or up 51.2 per cent, amid capacity crunch in air and ocean freight.
Cargo has cushioned the financial impact of the pandemic on SIA as air travel has been hit.
Goh Choon Phong, SIA’s chief executive, said: “The pandemic has underscored the importance of investing in the cargo business, and bolstering the SIA Group’s diverse revenue streams. Air cargo also plays a vital role in keeping open global supply chains, especially to transport essential goods during these times.”
Cargo operations registered a monthly load factor of 83.9 per cent in November – 1.6 percentage points lower year on year – as the 40.8 per cent hike in capacity outstripped the 38.1 per cent rise in load, SIA’s November operating statistics released on Wednesday showed.
Its passenger capacity, measured in available seat-kilometres, rose 10.6 per cent month on month to reach 37 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
Its passenger load factor, measuring the percentage of available seating capacity filled by paying passengers, improved by 9.2 percentage points month on month to 29.1 per cent, primarily due to stronger demand for flights on the quarantine-free vaccinated travel lanes.
SIA expects its passenger capacity for December 2021 to reach around 45 per cent of pre-pandemic levels – higher than its earlier projection of 43 per cent – while that for January 2022 to be around 47 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.