Singapore Airlines Group has reported a record half-year operating profit and will resume dividend payments of 10 cents per share in December.
It made an operating profit of S$1.2 billion (about £810 million) for the six months to the end of September, compared to a loss of S$620 million (£408 million) in the same period last year.
The group said the success was due to surging demand for air travel after Singapore fully reopened to vaccinated travellers in April 2022, and border restrictions eased across many key markets.
The results statement said demand is expected to be strong as the group heads into the year-end peak travel season.
However, it added: “High fuel prices, inflationary pressures across the supply chain, geopolitical issues, as well as macroeconomic uncertainties including the risk of a global recession, remain a concern beyond the Lunar New Year period.”
The statement also said the group’s airlines were “fast off the block” when flights resumed earlier this year in order to capture the pent-up demand.
SIA and low-cost sister airline Scoot carried 11.4 million passengers during the six months with “robust” passenger traffic and load factors across all cabin classes and route regions, except in East Asia where border restrictions largely remained in place.
The airlines are on track to hire about 3,000 cabin crew in total by the end of the financial year, and both have also resumed cadet pilot recruitment.