It was a chilling year for airlines.
For Singapore Airlines, the devastation of the global travel trolley was revealed on Friday, with the airline reporting a $ 6,691 million (-80.4%) drop in group revenue on an annual basis to $ 1,634 million in the first half of the year Financial.
This was attributed to a 98.9% decrease in passenger movement amid tight global border controls and travel restrictions.
The airline also lacks domestic cushioning for the likes of Qantas, American Airlines, etc.
Although it was partly offset by increased air freight revenues (a $ 274 million increase, or + 28.3%) as countries sought to restore global supply chains, this hardly made an impact overall.
The SIA Group turned into an operating loss of $ 1,863 million in the first half, reversing $ 2,276 million in operating profit of $ 413 million last year.
Singapore Airlines announced: “In the first half ending on September 30, 2020, the group recorded a net loss of $ 3467 million, a decrease of $ 3673 million from last year.”
This is due to the aforementioned deterioration in operating performance, in addition to three non-cash items.
The first of the three (for the other two, see full version here), perhaps most important to airline enthusiasts, is a $ 1,333 million drop in book values for older generation aircraft, with 26 aircraft deemed to be in excess of fleet requirements after completing a long-range network review .
These aircraft consist of seven A380s, four 777-200 / 200ERs, four 777-300s, nine A320s, and two A319s.
The seven A380s make up just under 40% of Singapore Airlines’ fleet of 19 people.
Those withdrawn “are supposed to be from the older” parent “of the Super Jumbo fleet that provided the airline’s First Class Special Wings,” Executive traveler Reports.
Singapore Airlines hinted at the execution in July, although nothing has been officially released about it. Now the decision has been made, frequent bloggers have taken to the internet to voice their thoughts.
One mile at a time “The airline has just received five A380s over the past few years, with brand new cabins,” writes blogger Ben Chalabej.
In light of this, he expects that “there are certainly still routes where there is demand for the A380, such as Singapore to London, Sydney, etc., and these are the markets where Singapore Airlines wants the product advantage.”
Schlappig expects Singapore Airlines’ A380 service to New York to be in a black hole, with the remaining A380s used in major non-stop markets such as London, Sydney, Paris and Melbourne.
Singapore Airlines is not alone in culling cumbersome aircraft, which are profitable only as a customer base thrives.
One mile at a time Reports “Before the pandemic there were 14 airlines on board an Airbus A380.”
Now there are far fewer in the sky; to me One mile at a timeAir France has retired from its 10 A380s, and Lufthansa has retired from 14 A380s (with an option to reactivate them). The CEO of Qatar Airways has said that its 10 A380s will not fly for at least two years, the Etihad CEO said. “The jury is still out” about the airline’s 10 pA380s flying again, and Qantas said 12 A380s would not fly for at least several years.
This also comes in a context where innovation is taking place in space for smaller aircraft, with the record for longest commercial flight a single-aisle aircraft ever used due to its break in October.
