SIA Group Says Airfares Expected To 'come Back Down' Within A Few ...

SINGAPORE: Airfares for flights on Singapore Airlines (SIA) will continue to remain high over the next couple of months amid an increase in travel demand, but are expected to "come back down" after that, a senior executive for the group said on Thursday (May 19).

"Airfares are a function of demand and supply. The reality is that flights for the next two months or so are quite booked up for many sectors, and so in those sectors, you will see higher prices," said commercial executive vice-president Mr Lee Lik Hsin.

"If you go beyond two months, the prices come back down. In fact, we regularly conduct promotions to try and get early bookings and early sales. So there are actually attractive prices out there in the marketplace; it really depends on when you need to travel and where you need to travel."

Mr Lee was speaking at a briefing one day after SIA reported a narrower annual loss of S$962 million for the year ended Mar 31, on the back of returning demand for international air travel as borders reopened in almost all key markets.

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In its earnings statement on Wednesday, it also said that passenger capacity would reach 61 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter and 67 per cent in the second quarter.

With border restrictions in Singapore and the region being eased, the travel industry is picking up after a prolonged downturn.

CNA previously reported data from travel platform Expedia showing that ticket prices were “generally higher” than in pre-pandemic days, with the average price for Singaporeans’ top five destinations up 20 per cent from 2019.

In his briefing to analysts and media on Thursday, Mr Lee said that SIA has not seen higher ticket prices trickle down to affect the lower cabin classes, but that the company will continue to be "nimble to adapting to demand and supply".