Singapore Airlines plunges into US$3.20 billion annual loss amid weak travel demand

The carrier filled just 13.4 per cent of passenger seats in the financial year ended March 31

The company said it would issue S$6.2 billion of convertible bonds to help weather the coronavirus crisis

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Singapore Airlines has cut jobs and deferred aircraft deliveries to help get it through the pandemic. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:38pm, 19 May 2021Updated: 10:06pm, 19 May 2021

Singapore Airlines on Wednesday posted its second-consecutive annual loss, which widened to a record S$4.27 billion (US$3.20 billion), and said it would issue S$6.2 billion of convertible bonds to help weather the coronavirus crisis.

The loss for the 12 months ended March 31 was worse than the average S$3.27 billion forecast by eight analysts, according to Refinitiv, and included S$2 billion of impairments largely on the 45 older planes surplus to requirements.

It was also far bigger than the S$212 million annual loss in the prior financial year, its first ever dip into the red, when only one quarter was affected by the pandemic.

Annual revenue fell 76.1 per cent to S$3.82 billion in the financial year ended March 31, with strong cargo revenues not enough to offset an almost 98 per cent fall in passenger numbers.

The airline said it expected passenger capacity to rise to 28 per cent of pre-pandemic levels by June, but much of that is due to strong freight demand sustaining the number of flights. It filled just 13.4 per cent of passenger seats in the financial year ended March 31.

The airline, which has no domestic market, has been one of the world’s hardest hit in terms of passenger traffic alongside its Hong Kong-based rival Cathay Pacific Airways.

Cathay, which reported a record annual loss of HK$21.6 billion (US$2.8 billion) for 2020, raised US$650 million by selling a US-dollar denominated bond for the first time in about three decades.