Singapore Airlines registers ‘single-digit’ growth in outbound travel from Hong Kong, even as travellers give city a miss
- The city is SIA’s second-largest market in terms of number of seats offered
- About 70 per cent of seats for its Hong Kong flights are occupied at the moment, says general manager
Singapore Airlines (SIA) has seen “single-digit” growth in outbound travel from Hong Kong amid a sharp downturn in demand for flights into the protest-stricken city, its executives said on Friday.
Hong Kong is considered the Singapore Airlines Group’s second-largest market in terms of the number of seats offered after Jakarta, and the company’s flagship premium airline offers seven flights a day to the city.
Chia Chow Hwee, SIA’s general manager for Hong Kong and Macau, described the gains in outbound travel as a “single-digit improvement”, noting that 68 to 70 per cent of seats for its Hong Kong flights were occupied at the moment - still a less than stellar number.
“If you ask me, the increase in the outbound is compensating for the drop in inbound. Overall our decline is mitigated to a large extent, on average down 10 percentage points, but we are making minor [capacity changes],” he said