Singapore Airlines 2012 Annual Report Download - page 35

033ANNUAL REPORT 2011/2012
Operating Review
SilkAir
SilkAir closed the year in review with a profit after taxation
of $85 million, a decrease of 18% compared to the previous
financial year.
The airline carried a total of 3.0 million passengers during the
year, an improvement of 9.8%. With capacity growth outpacing
passenger carriage, passenger load factor declined by 0.7
percentage points to 75.7%.
Five new points were added to the SilkAir network during the
financial year in review – Kolkata, Koh Samui, Bandung and
Changsha in 2011 and Darwin in 2012.
SilkAir introduced flights between Singapore and Kolkata, the
capital city of the state of West Bengal, from 1 August 2011.
The four flights a week complement Singapore Airlines’ flights to
the city, to offer passengers a combined daily service.
Thrice-weekly flights to Koh Samui, Thailand’s third largest
island, began on 27 September 2011. Koh Samui is the airline’s
third destination in Thailand, after Phuket and Chiang Mai.
Bandung, the capital of West Java province and Indonesia’s third
largest city, was added as a SilkAir destination on 11 October
2011, with three flights a week. Bandung is the airline’s ninth
Indonesian destination after Balikpapan, Lombok, Manado,
Medan, Palembang, Pekanbaru, Solo and Surabaya.
As part of its network expansion in China, the airline commenced
services to Changsha on 31 October 2011, with flights on
Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Changsha, the capital
of Hunan province, is SilkAir’s sixth destination in China, after
Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming, Shenzhen and Xiamen.
2012 saw SilkAir celebrate the addition of a new country,
Australia, to its network. With its inaugural flight to Darwin,
the capital city of the Northern Territory, SilkAir now flies to 11
countries from Singapore.
In addition to the new destinations, capacity to a number of
existing destinations, such as Bangalore, Chongqing, Hyderabad,
and Pekanbaru, was increased to meet growing demand. The
airline also worked actively with its partners to operate charters
to Dili (in Timor Leste).
As part of its efforts on community engagement, SilkAir renewed
its partnership with international volunteer organisation, Friends
International, whose goal is to help children in underdeveloped
countries and raise awareness of child labour. SilkAir, together
with Singapore Airlines, also supports the Giant Panda
collaborative programme between Wildlife Reserves Singapore
and the China Wildlife Conservation Association.
In October 2011, SilkAir was presented the award for Regional
Airline of the Year 2011 by CAPA - the Centre for Aviation, a
leading aviation research body. SilkAir was also ranked 2nd in the
Best Regional Airline (Asia) category in the 2011 Skytrax World
Airline Awards. These honours followed the induction of SilkAir
into the TTG Asia Travel Hall of Fame in 2010, after its 10th win in
the TTG Asia Travel Awards in 2009. SilkAir was once again voted
one of the Top 10 Airlines Worldwide for Cabin Service by Hong
Kong-based online travel magazine, Smart Travel Asia.