Singapore Airlines Group, including Scoot, reported a record annual nett profit of US$1,62bn (R31,16 billion) for the year 2022/2023 and the Group has announced that its personnel will be rewarded.
The Group will award eligible staff an immense profit-sharing bonus of more than eight months' salary, and the windfall will include employees of subsidiary, budget carrier Scoot.
Eligible employees will receive a bonus of 6,65 months’ salary (as per the airline group’s profit-sharing scheme) occasioned by Singapore Airlines’ record profit in the year. An extra maximum 1,5 months’ salary has been added, half a month for each of the past three pandemic years (senior management are not eligible for this extra bonus). This ex-gratia bonus was said by the company to be in recognition of the hard work and sacrifices made by staff during the pandemic.
In September 2020, SQ pilots agreed to take pay cuts of up to 60% in a deal that was estimated to have saved about 400 jobs.
Then, over the years 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 the airline reported losses totalling USS2,75 billion (R52,90 billion) as the world reeled under the COVID-19 pandemic.
The carrier also said that at this juncture, forward sales were healthy across all cabin classes, led by bookings to China, Japan and South Korea.
According to the South China Post, Singapore Airlines’ passenger capacity rose to 79% of pre-COVID levels in March. Scoot carried 26,5 million passengers in the year, six times higher than the prior year.
The Group warned that inflationary pressures and more competition loomed in the future, and it expected that near-term cargo demand would soften as supply-chain bottlenecks eased and deteriorating economic conditions impacted consumer appetites and trade.
All airlines have been subject to fuel prices at elevated levels – this has contributed to SQ’s expenses for the year increasing by 83,4% to US$11,2bn (R215,50 billion).
Singapore Airlines is to inject an additional US$267m (R5,14 billion) into Air India, an investment that will give it a 25,1% stake in the Indian carrier. Indian juggernaut Tata is in the process of acquiring Air India and will merge it with airline Vistara and create the largest airline on the subcontinent.
