SIA Cargo Load Factor Jumps

Singapore Airlines saw its cargo load factor reach its highest point in nearly two years in July as sharp capacity cuts surpassed reduced demand.

The combination gave SIA Cargo its strongest month of 2009 for cargo in July despite a 14.6 percent decline in freight traffic over the same month a year ago.

Freight traffic and tonnage reached their highest levels of the year, the airline said, and steep capacity cuts pushed the cargo load factor (a measure of how much available space is filled) 3.3 percentage points higher than the same month a year ago.

At 63.3 percent, SIA’s cargo load factor reached its highest point since November 2007.

Although freight traffic remained down in July, the decline was the slimmest the airline has seen this year and it was less than the 18.9 percent cutback in Singapore Airlines’ cargo capacity.