Demand for flights to China has risen recently, Singapore Airlines exec says

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SEOUL (Reuters) -Singapore Airlines has seen a surge in passenger traffic into China in recent months, but outbound travel has still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels, Chief Commercial Officer Lee Lik Hsin said on Friday.

“We have seen quite a surge in inbound travel into China in the last six months or so,” Lee said at a news briefing following the release of their annual results.

Load factors, or the share of seats sold on flights, on the carrier’s China flights have improved to within the 80% range, compared to the 70% range last year, he said.

Asia’s post-pandemic air travel recovery has lagged in places due to China, the world’s second-largest economy, being slower than the rest of the world to return to international flying.

Capacity into China for the carrier’s full service airline has largely recovered to pre-pandemic levels, but low-cost subsidiary Scoot is flying about 80% of its pre-COVID capacity into China, he said.

Singapore Airlines on Thursday reported a record annual net profit, boosted by a one-off gain from a merger of its 49%-owned Indian carrier Vistara and Air India, but lower air fares in response to increased competition weighed on operating profit.

(Reporting by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)