The recognition honours SIA’s swift and decisive response to the Covid-19 pandemic. - ST
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Singapore Airlines (SIA) was named Airline of the Year in the 49th Annual Air Transport World (ATW) Airline Industry Achievement Awards.
The recognition honours SIA’s swift and decisive response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which kept the flag carrier on a strong footing and enabled it to re-enter the market strongly when borders reopened, said the company.
The airline added that it posted a record passenger load factor and managed to restore passenger capacity quickly to capture the pent-up demand.
The award from industry publication ATW comes just weeks after Fortune magazine listed SIA as one of the 50 most admired companies in the world.
SIA is the highest-ranking Asian airline on this prestigious list, which was decided through an independent survey of more than 3,700 companies, analysts and board members.
The ATW awards recognise excellence across a broad range of airline operations, such as efficiency, safety and service, and are widely considered the most coveted in the air transport industry. The recipients were selected by a panel of editors and analysts at ATW, airline magazines Routes and Aviation Week, and aviation consultancy Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation.
Goh Choon Phong, SIA chief executive, said the accolade was a testament to the indomitable spirit of everyone at the company.
“My colleagues demonstrated unwavering resilience over the last few years as we navigated the depths of the pandemic and dedicated themselves to ensuring that we emerged stronger than before as international passenger travel resumed,” he said.
“We will continue to strive to exceed our customers’ expectations... and set new standards in the airline industry,” he added.
Nearly the entire SIA passenger fleet was grounded during the pandemic. The airline has currently restored 80 per cent of its pre-Covid-19 capacity.
For the half year to end-September 2022, the company posted a record revenue of S$8.4 billion and a record operating profit of $1.23 billion. Its net profit was $927 million.
In December 2022, the group had its highest passenger load factor in its history at 89.7 per cent.
In 2022, the group carried 20.7 million passengers, up nine-fold from 2021.
