Singapore Airlines to pay staff 8 months’ bonus as profit soars to US$1.6 billion

Eligible staff will be paid a profit-sharing bonus in recognition of their hard work and sacrifices during the pandemic
The city state’s flag carrier reported net income of US$1.62 billion for the year ended March 31, after posting losses for the past three years

Singapore

Bloomberg

Published: 4:44pm, 18 May 2023

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Singapore Airlines will pay staff a bonus of around eight months’ salary after posting a record annual profit.

Eligible staff will be paid a profit-sharing bonus equivalent to 6.65 months’ pay, and a maximum of 1.5 months’ salary of ex gratia bonus in recognition of their hard work and sacrifices during the pandemic, a spokesperson for the airline said. Senior management will not receive that additional ex gratia bonus.

“The bonus for Singapore Airlines’ employees is based on a long-standing annual profit-sharing bonus formula that has been agreed with our staff unions,” the spokesperson said.

The city state’s flag carrier on Tuesday reported net income of S$2.16 billion (US$1.62 billion) for the year ended March 31, after posting losses for the past three years. The carrier also said forward sales are healthy across all cabin classes, led by bookings to China, Japan and South Korea.

Singapore Airlines, and its offshoot carried 26.5 million passengers Photo: Reuters

Singapore Airlines and its budget offshoot Scoot carried 26.5 million passengers in the year, six times higher than the 12 months through March 2022, with passenger capacity rising to 79 per cent of pre-Covid levels in March.

The turnaround is in line with other airlines such as Australia’s Qantas, which returned to a first-half profit in February but warned of inflation pressures and competition.

SIA echoed that warning and added that even near-term cargo demand would be softer as the supply chain bottlenecks ease and weaker economic conditions impact consumer demand and trade.

The carrier, which is set to take a 25.1 per cent stake in Air India, said its expenses for the year swelled 83.4 per cent to S$15.08 billion (US$11.2 billion), partly driven by fuel prices remaining at elevated levels.

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On Monday, Singapore Air said it flew 1.75 million passengers in April, up 53 per cent from the same month last year. Hong Kong rival Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. has a way to go before it gets to those heights, with last year’s revenue still only about half of pre-pandemic levels.

Cathay operated at as little as 2 per cent of normal capacity during the pandemic as travel to Hong Kong dried up, leaving it with record losses. Demand is finally picking up again – passenger traffic reached 1.38 million in April, a more than 3,200 per cent increase from the same month last year.

Cathay is rebuilding its North America network and plans to offer three Chicago flights a week from October, bringing its total number of destinations in the region to seven.

Additional reporting by Reuters