As the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak began to take hold, new figures from Singapore Airlines and Changi Airport Group highlighting their operating statistics for March 2020 showed a marked drop in passenger levels, with freight throughput at Changi also down by a fifth.
This came as strict travel restrictions were imposed by almost all countries in the region, leading many airlines no choice but to cancel their flights as demand practically evaporated.
Singapore Airlines Group
In its trading update on 15th April 2020, Singapore Airlines wasn’t sugar-coating the situation.
“In the fourth quarter of the financial year 2019-20, the SIA Group confronted the greatest challenge in its history due to the global Covid-19 outbreak, which had an unprecedented impact on its business…
“Market conditions deteriorated rapidly in March 2020…
“The collapse in passenger traffic has had a severe impact on the SIA Group’s revenues.” Singapore Airlines
The net result was a 64.8% fall in passenger traffic across the three group airlines, from 3.1 million in March 2019 to 1.1 million in March 2020.
| Airline | Passengers (x 1,000) | Chg. | ||
| Mar 2019 | Mar 2020 | |||