Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Singapore Airlines Full-Year Media and Analyst Briefing for Financial Year 2024-2025. My name is Siva, and I'm from the Singapore Airlines Public Affairs team. We're very happy to welcome everyone again to the SIA Training Centre for this session, and also to everyone joining us virtually. Welcome again. We will follow the usual format as per every year. We will first invite Jo-Ann Tan, who is the Chief Financial Officer, to present the results. That will be followed by Goh Choon Phong, the Chief Executive Officer, to present the outlook and the strategy for the group. We will then follow up with a Q&A session. For those who are joining us virtually, you will have the option to key in your questions, and we will take them when we start the Q&A.
If I could just remind everybody to please keep your mobile phones to silent mode or switch them off, that would be great. Without further ado, I'd like to invite Jo-Ann, please. Thank you.
Good morning, everyone. Okay. Let me start with the key highlights for this year, 2024-2025 results. As you've already read, our operating profit for the year stands at SGD 1.7 billion, a 37.3% lower than last year. However, the group achieved a record revenue of SGD 19.5 billion. This is SGD 527 million higher than last year and driven by very resilient demand for both air travel and cargo uplifts. Combined, SIA and Scoot carried a record 39.4 million passengers. This is an increase of 8.1% versus last year. Group expense rose SGD 1.5 billion to SGD 17.8 billion for the year. Non-fuel expenditure was up SGD 1.2 billion, driven by the 8.9% capacity growth and cost escalation, partially mitigated by the group's cost management measures. Net fuel costs increased by SGD 309 million as the impact of the increase in volume uplifted was partially offset by an 8.5% reduction in fuel price.
For the financial year, SIA achieved a record net profit of SGD 2.8 billion. This was very much boosted by the one-off non-cash accounting gain of SGD 1.1 billion from the Air India-Vistara merger that was completed in November of 2024. The proposed final dividend is SGD 0.30 per share for this financial year, including the interim dividend of SGD 0.10 that was already paid out in December. Total dividend for 2024-2025 comes in at SGD 0.40 per share. This is going to be subject to shareholder approval at the upcoming AGM in July of this year. Attached here is a summary of the operating performance of the main group companies. For both the full service and low cost, we saw weaker year-on-year performance in both the second half and the full year. I'll elaborate more on that later.
SIAEC on the other hand, delivered an improvement in their operating performance, and this is because their revenue gain from higher maintenance activities with more flight resumptions primarily exceeded their cost increases. Now, moving on to the group. For the second half of the year, both passenger and cargo continued with the capacity growth trajectory. On a full-year basis, overall capacity is up 8.9%. Tax capacity increased 8.2%, and cargo came in higher at 10.1%. Our group financial results. Let me first spend some time on the second half year-on-year. Revenue for the second half grew SGD 192 million. It is a 2% increase, hitting the SGD 10 billion revenue mark for the six-month period. For perspective, this is actually our highest half-yearly revenue. Total expense also grew about SGD 452 million.
This was driven by an increased non-fuel expense of SGD 590 million, partially offset by lower net fuel cost of SGD 138 million because of lower fuel prices. Consequently, putting it all together, second half operating profit came in SGD 260 million lower at SGD 914 million, a 22% reduction from the same period last year. For the full year, as I'd already shared in the first slide, the group achieved record high revenue of SGD 19.5 billion, a SGD 527 million increase from the previous year. This was, however, offset by a higher expense increase of SGD 1.5 billion year-on-year. Consequently, the lower operating profit of SGD 1.7 billion is a SGD 1 billion reduction from last year. The full record net profit of SGD 2.8 billion, which is a SGD 103 million increase from last year, was really very much boosted by the one-off non-cash accounting gain from the Air India and Vistara merger.
Looking at revenue, the group's record revenue of SGD 527 million was contributed by increase from both the passenger revenue as well as cargo. For passenger, passenger traffic remained very robust and resilient for the full year, and traffic grew 6.4%, just slightly lower than the capacity expansion of 8.2%. The SIA Group Airlines achieved overall load factor of 86.6%, with the full service PLF coming in at 86.1% and the LCC load factor coming in at 88.4%. A little bit more on yields. For both FSC and LCC, yields continued to see a gradual downward trend due to the increase in competition. For the full service carrier, first half, the yield decrease was 7.4%. Second half, yield decline actually narrowed to -5.7% instead. For the full year, the yield decline came in at 5.8%. Similar story for LCC. First half, yield decline was 4.5%.
Second half, yield decline narrowed to 1.4%. Full year yield decline was 2.9%. I think just to highlight also for both carriers, notwithstanding the yield decline, the yields continue to remain stronger than our pre-COVID levels. Cargo had a very robust year. Uplift grew 13.3%, higher than a capacity increase of 10.1%. This was because of the benefits from the disruptions in sea freight, as well as stronger demand for e-commerce and verticals such as aerospace and perishables. Consequently, cargo load factor actually improved 1.6 percentage points in 2024-2025. A similar situation, cargo yields continue to be at levels above pre-COVID. Now, moving on to expenditure. Expenditure of SGD 1.5 billion increased from last year, I think is probably best viewed from our pie chart. I will cover the net fuel cost later. Focusing on the non-fuel expense first, which saw an increase of SGD 1.2 billion year-on-year.
A couple of callouts here. Staff costs increased 6%, but this was really due to the increase in staff strength in support of the expansion of operations. Aircraft depreciation and leased aircraft charges went up 11%, and this is because we had additional heavy maintenance and engine overhaul jobs, as well as the delivery of new aircraft, 10 787s, 3 A350s, and 5 E2s for Scoot. Handling charges and passenger costs went up 16.3% and 19.3% respectively. This is from a combination of higher capacity, higher passenger carriage, as well as some rate increase and improvements that we've made in our in-flight meals. AMO costs showed a decrease of 11.5%, and this is largely because we had a write-back of provisions for aircraft return costs from the early termination of two A380 leases, which we converted them into owned aircraft.
Excluding these amounts, AMO costs would also have gone up in line with our increase in flight operations. Now, moving to net fuel. Fuel costs for the full year was up 6%, SGD 309 million. It was higher because of increase in volume uplift, lower hedging gain compared to last year, but very much offset by lower fuel prices before hedging and the weakening of US dollar against Singapore dollar. The table underneath shows you the fuel price before hedging and after hedging. For this financial year full year before hedging, fuel prices were 8.5% lower compared to last year. In terms of our fuel hedging status, we continue to hedge our fuel requirements on the declining wedge basis into the next year. In the nearest quarter, we typically hedge up to about 50%, as you can see.
In addition, this year, we have also extended our hedge profile by taking more opportunistic long-term hedges up to five years out. The table here summarizes our fuel hedging position with average hedge prices as at 1st of May of this year. Now, putting all of this together, second half operating profit came in at SGD 914 million, 22% lower than last year. First half operating profit was SGD 796 million. Combined, it forms an operating profit for the full year at SGD 1.7 billion, a 37.3% reduction from last year. This is the usual waterfall chart that gives you a better picture of how things move. The resilient demand drove higher passenger and cargo revenue, albeit we recognize with the yield declines, the revenue growth was more subdued versus capacity.
Cost increase in both fuel and non-fuel components outweighed the improvements in revenue, leading to the operating profit decline compared to last year. Now, although we note the decline in operating profit, I think for perspective, the comparison 2023-2024 was really the operating performance that benefited from very robust post-COVID growth. When we look at the 2024-2025 operating profit levels at SGD 1.7 billion and operating margin of 8.7%, I think we still think it reflects a very strong operating performance, especially when we think about the when viewed against the average pre-COVID years performance. On a full year basis, the group achieved a record net profit of SGD 2.8 billion, SGD 103 million higher than last year. This chart here very clearly shows that very much boosted by the one-off non-cash accounting gain of SGD 1.1 billion from the Air India-Vistara merger.
Now, excluding this accounting gain, the net profit would have stood at SGD 1.7 billion. Okay. This shows our group financial position. Just as a callout, our group cash position, I think we need to look at it from the perspective of total cash as well as the fixed deposits with tenures longer than 12 months. You'll see that our cash position is still very strong and healthy. Also as a recap, previously during COVID, SIA issued MCBs, which are treated as equity. We already did the full redemption of the last batch of MCBs in June of 2024, and this resulted in a reset of equity levels post-MCB redemption. You see this in the update in our equity line. Moving on, the group financials, we're just also showcasing our basic earnings per share as well as EBITDA margins.
For this year, the board has proposed a final dividend payout of SGD 0.30 per share, including the interim dividend of SGD 0.10 per share that was already paid in December 2024. Total dividend for 2024-2025 will come in at SGD 0.40 per share, representing a total dividend distribution of SGD 1.2 billion for the full year. This is going to be subject to shareholder approval at the AGM on the 28th of July of this year. The final dividend will be paid on the 27th of August for shareholders that are registered as of the 11th of August. For 2025-2026, the group is expecting 22 new aircraft deliveries and nine retirements. Consequently, operating fleet, we are expecting to expand by 13 aircraft to 218 units by the end of the financial year. This is my last slide that summarizes our five-year projected CapEx.
This has been updated based on revised aircraft delivery schedules. Okay. Just for perspective, we still have another 78 aircraft to be delivered within this timeframe. So annual CapEx expense, including aircraft purchase, continues to remain in the SGD 4 billion per annum territory. On this, let me hand over to CEO for the next presentation. Thank you.
Thank you, Jo-Ann. Ladies and gentlemen, once again, welcome to our training center. I would like to touch, as usual, on two aspects, the challenges, as well as how we are positioned to handle the challenges. This slide should not be new to anyone because the challenges, the key challenges for the industry remain pretty much the same as last year. I do not know if you should be very familiar with them.
On top of that, of course, we are aware of the more recent developments emanating largely from the U.S. as a result of tariffs. Before I go further, I think it's important for us to bear in mind that these are not just SIA issues to handle. These are actually issues that the entire airline industry has to handle. I'm going to show how SIA is very well positioned to handle, not actually not just handle these challenges, but also in a position to seize any opportunities that may arise as a result. There are foundations that we have built over the decades that will position us well, and I'll go through them each in turn in the following slides.
Beyond the foundations, there are also strategies that we have adopted that would allow us to be agile and resilient and in position to take advantage of any opportunities. First, of course, is our financial strength. Jo-Ann has pointed out earlier, just in terms of cash, and of course, in this case, we include our long-term deposit, the FDs that Jo-Ann was talking about. We have an excess of SGD 10 billion, and we have SGD 3.3 billion of committed lines that have not been drawn. Plus, we have also had room for borrowings. It is quite clear that we have one of the strongest, if not the strongest, balance sheet in the airline industry, and this will allow us to withstand any shock that may come.
As far as we can tell, the issues associated with the tariff changes and so forth are not likely to deliver a shock quite the same as COVID. It does mean that it will be a lot more uncertain. Nobody quite knows how exactly things will unfold because policies change quite often. As a result, what is very important is for the organizations to be resilient, to be agile so that it can take advantage and to be able to withstand any challenges that may come. Certainly, with a strong financial strength, this is a clear advantage in this time of uncertainties. The other foundation is our digital capabilities. Since the last IT or digital transformation that we embarked on about a decade ago, we have made digital capabilities a core foundation for SIA.
This slide should be quite familiar with all of you because we've presented them before, how we have built up our digital capabilities to be recognized as a leading digital airline in the world today. More than that, with the strong foundation in digital capabilities that we have built, it actually enabled us to transition into the adoption, to the use and adoption of GenAI in a smooth manner. In fact, today, we have already more than 270 use cases in GenAI, and more than 70 of them have been completed. In production, we're actively using them for various applications in customer service, in improving our productivity, in enhancing our operational efficiencies. Here are some of the examples. Again, I have spoken about them before, some of them, but we are seeing clear delivery of benefits.
In this particular case, we do believe that the GenAI adoptions as an early adopter will give us competitive advantage, and it will be a game changer. The third foundation is our people. This, again, should come as no surprise to everyone. We have very enterprising people who are very dedicated, talented, and we want to continue to be able to provide the necessary training so that they are able to contribute in an effective manner, even though the environment has been changing. Now, beyond these three foundations, I mentioned that there are long-term strategies we have adopted that also put us in a strong position. One of them is a diversified network that we have maintained all this while. You can see that we have a strong network across the world.
Looking at this network, it is also good to point out that where we are positioned, where we are situated, which is Asia and Southeast Asia in particular, is actually the epicenter of growth, we believe to be the epicenter of growth in the decades to come. If you look at our frequency in terms of weekly frequency, you can see that a huge part of our network is actually serving, of course, Southeast Asia and also Asia at large. This is where the growth is going to, is expected to be in the next decade or so. This is the full service carrier network. Because of the portfolio strategy that we have adopted, we have actually introduced Scoot about more than 10 years ago.
The network of Scoot has helped to complement the network that SIA has, in particular densifying the network that we have in Asia. In fact, this is what it looks like if you include Scoot. The overall network in terms of frequency per week actually would have gone up by almost 50%. If you look at Asia itself, that growth is even more impressive. Southeast Asia is up almost 40% with Scoot. You can see how the adoption of the portfolio strategy, which is Scoot, both the LCC and the full service, allows the airline to actually be able to serve a larger, with larger density to Asia. Also, because these are two different models, it gives us the flexibility of ensuring that we're always able to deploy the right vehicle on the right route depending on the demand patterns.
The other strategy that we have adopted and been building over the years is partnership. Now, in the time of difficulties, challenges, and uncertainties, being able to work with your partner and combining strength is an advantage. We have built out partnership, strengthened our partnership across the world. In particular, we have established very strong commercial partnership with the following airlines you see on the map. You can see that we actually span the world as well in key markets that we are present in, whether it's Europe, North Asia, ANA was the latest that we announced. Of course, on top of that, you're well aware of our investment in India, which arguably today is considered one of the highest growth, if not the highest growth aviation market in the world.
Our multi-hub strategy, which involves our investment in India, also comes in very helpful in times of uncertainties when we can participate directly in a high-growth country. There is this consistent emphasis on cost management. Yes, we provide the best service. We provide leading-edge products, and we continue to grow our fleet in order to serve our customers better. At the same time, we are relentless in ensuring that we continue to be efficient. With the adoption of GenAI, we believe we can do even more. You can see that over the years, despite challenges on costs, escalations, inflation, and all that, we have managed to consistently manage the RUSC, which is the cost for ASK, the unit cost, quite well. It is fairly flat if you look across the years.
This, again, is not a new slide, but it's important to call out because the belief is that the tariff could complicate the supply chain even further, but we're well placed. Supply chain issues, supply chain disruptions are not new. In fact, it happened, it was already quite bad last year. Despite that, we managed to actually achieve a very good growth, meaning that we are still able to ensure that our planes are deployed gainfully to provide the capacity that we need. We will continue to ensure that we deliver, besides the network, also products and services. We have announced all that, including the launch or the renovation of the Terminal 2 lounge, which will have amenities that will rival that of the one that we introduced in T3.
On top of that, we have also announced this huge retrofit exercise that we're going to have with the 41 A350 long-haul planes and ultra-long-range planes. I'm glad to share that we will actually be sharing the exact products, and I'm detailing them to the public in the first half of next year. Our KrisFlyer numbers continue to increase. This is a deliberate effort for us to reach out and ensure that we can continue to be relevant to our customers, increasing the customer base. I think it's no mean feat to have a number that exceeds the population of a country where we are based. This increase means that we have more opportunities to reach out to our customer base and to be able to provide other services and sales opportunities. We are committed to sustainability. However, we do believe that it is not an SIA issue.
It is an industry issue. We do not look at it as a competitive tool. We look at it as something that the industry as a whole should achieve. Because of that, we have deliberately taken a leadership position in the initiatives associated with sustainability so that we can encourage other colleagues and other airlines to come along, just as we did when we worked with AAPA to introduce a target for SAF uplift by 2030 of 5% for the AAPA carriers. We are also very serious about contributing back to the community we serve. As you know, in 2023, we raised funds for the less privileged part of our society, segment of our society. We also have a foundation that will reach out to youth and get them more interested in the aviation industry.
This year, as part of the SG60, we're glad to have been able to provide opportunities for our customers to have lower fare travels as part of the SG60 promotions, and also to have SG60-themed products for our customers to enjoy. Also importantly, to have another fundraising campaign. This time around, we hope to raise SGD 2.1 million, sorry, SGD 1.3 million internally within SIA and with our partners. Also, all of you are also welcome to contribute. [The QR code] is there. With that, SIA, the airline, will match one for one. We hope to then raise SGD 2.6 million. The government will match that. It is SGD 5.2 million. For every dollar that you put in, there will be a $4 benefit to charity. It is a wonderful thing to do.
Let me summarize again to show you why we should be confident in some sense of being able to manage the uncertainties and the challenges that we see unfolding in the world. With that strong three foundations, which I've explained, and we have all the strategic initiatives that have been put in place, it is important to note that all these were not done because of our desire to handle the existing challenges. All these were done as part of our overall strategies and foundation building for the future of the airlines. Thank you.
Thank you, Choon Phong While we get ready for the Q&A session, maybe I could remind the folks who are online, you can key in your questions in that box there, and we'll get to them in a short while. Maybe I'll just go through the quick ground rules again.
If I could have your cooperation, if you could please raise your hand and signal to me when you are ready to ask a question, and I'll point to you. If you could please identify yourself and the organization that you're representing, that would be great because we need that for our records. We have just over half an hour or so for the Q&A. Again, I'd like to appeal if you could limit it to one question each. That would be great. That would give us more time. Once we're done, we can come back to you if you have more questions. While we set up, thank you. Could I invite Goh Choon Phong and Jo-Ann back up on stage again? Could I also invite Lee Lik Hsin, our Chief Commercial Officer, Tan Kai Ping, our Chief Operations Officer, as well as Leslie Thng, who's the CEO of Scoot?
Thank you. We will now start, and we will start with Danny from Bloomberg. Please just wait for the mic. Thank you.
Hi there. Thank you very much, [Nik]. Good morning, everyone. Can you just give a little bit more color around the caution you see on the outlook with regards to tariffs? Is there anything in the business numbers that you see that gives caution around the revenue being weaker than expected in terms of forward bookings and trends, rather? Thank you.
At this point in time, based on what we can see in the bookings, we do not see any significant impact, any material impact. We are still seeing robust demand on our routes. As to what we can expect from all this tariff impact, as I mentioned in my presentations, it is really very uncertain.
I do not think anybody could tell you exactly what will happen because it depends on, well, one particular person in particular. I would say that what is very important is to see whether we have the nimbleness, the agility, and are prepared to manage the uncertainties. I believe what I have shown in my presentation is exactly that, that we are ready.
Thank you, Choon Phong.
Next question, please. Just the lady over there in the third row.
Hi, good morning. Tabitha from DBS. I have a first question on Scoot aircraft deliveries. We noticed that Scoot is taking quite a few more aircraft than SIA this year. What is the thinking behind that, and where are these aircraft likely to be deployed? Does this reflect a more upbeat view on the low-cost segment for the year?
Hello. Yep. I think you're right to say that we are taking quite a number of deliveries. I think, first of all, the reason is because of COVID, where some of the aircraft have been delayed to post-COVID. If you recall, two years back, we have decided that we are introducing a new fleet into the company, the Embraer. Last year, we have taken five. There is another four joining us this year. Altogether, there will be quite a number of new aircraft joining us. If you recall what Jo-Ann showed in the slide as well, we are also in the phase of retiring the older A320. This year, we are retiring another five. There will be an addition of new aircraft at the same time retiring of older aircraft.
If you look at Scoot network, our focus is really on Southeast Asia as well as Asia, which Choon Phong also alluded to, saying that there are a lot of opportunities because this is the epicenter for growth going forward. Most of the aircraft that we are taking in, including the Boeing 787, would be deployed within Asia itself for this financial year.
Thank you, Leslie. Next question, please. Might be the quickest Q&A that we've had. We have an online question. Lisa Barrington from Reuters, who's asking, are you seeing a rebound in cargo demand and on which lanes and products since Monday's US-China tariff deal? A similar question from Chuanren. Has the group seen an increased cargo demand and movement to circumvent tariffs? How and where do you see cargo demand shifting moving forward?
Suffice to say, it is changing very constantly. The point that we have made, that Choon Phong has made, is that we are well diversified. Wherever the cargo flows go, we have the network to be able to manage that. For example, in the days when immediately after the implementation of the U.S. tariff on China, very clearly, it was well reported in the media that shipping and air cargo dropped quite significantly. We were able to fill our Singapore-U.S.A. flights with cargoes from Southeast Asia rather than from China, where it was more greatly impacted. Regardless of how the flows go, we will be able to manage it and tap into the new flows because we do believe that flows will continue globally. Thanks.
Thank you. One more virtual question then. Any concerns and impact on SAS and Asiana leaving Star Alliance? This is from Chuanren as well.
How do we view the impact of Asiana and SAS leaving the Star Alliance?
At the moment, we, of course, had cooperation with both ASIANA and SAS before, more so with SAS, I would say. At the moment, the arrangement will continue. Of course, what happens in the future, we'll have to see.
Okay. Any questions in the room? Mayuko, right here in the second row, please. Thank you.
Thank you, Mayuko from Nikkei. About the passenger yield, it has come down on the full-service airlines more, it seems. Can you explain a little bit more about which area, which routes are impacted more, which classes? It is still higher than pre-COVID level, but are you prepared to see the pre-COVID level go down further? If I can, can I know whether Scoot is considering to order additional Embraer planes? Thank you.
On passenger yield, we do not give detail on different routes, and so I would not address that point. In general, I would say that the passenger yield, of course, is still moderating, but that moderation, of course, is coming down. The decline against the previous year is less than in the earlier months. On aircraft order, we never announce any aircraft order until it is confirmed. You will hear if we have something. Thank you.
Any other questions from the room? All right. We will go to the gentleman on the far corner there, followed by...
Thank you, [Kaasedit from Citi]. Just on premiumization mix of passengers, right? I understand that we have been seeing a higher mix of premium cabin since reopening.
Let us say after April, on heightened tariff risk, are you seeing any changes in mix of premium cabin, i.e., passenger moving back to the back cabin, for example? Thank you.
Actually, the mix of premium passengers on our flights has been relatively stable. It moves up a little bit in the initial post-COVID rebound travel, but we are only talking about between one to two percentage points. In relation to post-tariff turbulence, as Choon Phong has said, at this point in time, we are not seeing big shifts. I would say that no big shifts, even in the mix for now.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. Can we get the mic to maybe the lady first and the gentleman, please? Thank you.
Hi, I am Kate from CNA.
I just want to check on any new routes or markets you guys are expanding into and also quickly clarify on how many months of bonus are you guys giving the employees. One last question on understanding that you guys are saying that low fares are hurting the profit. Can SIA realistically maintain its premium pricing, given that a lot of the low-cost carriers are actually expanding very aggressively?
I'll take the easy question. I can confirm with you that we have announced bonus payment for our employee, and it will amount to 7.45 months.
We believe that there will always be a market for premium travel, and there will obviously also be a market for budget travel. That is why we have this portfolio strategy of both having Scoot and Singapore Airlines.
We do not believe that there will be, of course, generally pricing is a function of demand and supply, and we will be nimble and adjust to the market as needed. Thanks.
What about any new routes or markets that you guys are looking to expand into?
We would normally announce them when we are ready to announce them. Thanks.
To the gentleman from front.
Hello. Roy from UOB Kay Hain . I have three questions. First, could you please comment on the yield outlook for both passenger and cargo for April 2026? For passengers, we know the moderation is slowing, but for 2026, April 2026, do we still expect some further moderation in the passenger yield? I would also like to hear your comment on the cargo yield.
Second question is regarding if you can share some update on the visibility of the Air India turnaround because April 26, we'll see the full year impact from Air India. I wonder whether there will be some drag on SIA's earnings performance. The third question is for Jo-Ann, is regarding the rise in landfill cost. I see a lot of increase in the other operating expenses. If we see the second half, along the half of a year increase for other operating expenses for second half is, I think, over 50%. I know that there are some accounting loss, like the lease remeasurement. There is also some forex losses. Even if we exclude those, I see one-off losses, the operating expenses still rise about 40% year on year for the second half of the year.
I wonder whether there are some other one-off losses there we miss out. Yeah. Thanks. That's the three questions.
Okay. I will take your middle questions now. I'll let Lik Hsin address your yield question and Jo-Ann, your last question. Air India, outlook for Air India. We do not even give guidance for our own airlines, and we're certainly not at liberty to share with you what Air India's projections might be. I suggest you ask them. Are you going to the IATA meeting? Are you going to the IATA AGM?
Oh, no.
Oh, no.
Okay.
Maybe your colleagues can ask on your behalf. Okay.
Thanks.
I also have the one-line answer. We do not give guidance on forward yields for both passenger and cargo.
Hello? Yeah. Okay. For others, I think you've already captured. We did have some forex losses.
We've also made some provision for emission cost share charges. There's a combination of a few things under others, as the headline would suggest. If we exclude all the one-off losses or accounting losses, would the other operating expenses more or less, I would say, be stable year on year? I don't think we would give specifics to that level. Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you. We'll take some online questions. Firstly, from Adrian Scofield from Aviation Week. Could you give more details about the extent of AOGs in the group fleets due to supply chain constraints? Do you see improvements on the horizons? Also, what level of delivery delays are you seeing?
Thanks for the question. Supply chain challenges are not new. Post-COVID, we've seen them. Certainly, Singapore Airlines is also affected. I would just say that on outcomes, we are managing it relatively okay.
You see in the capacity materialization. Notwithstanding the very difficult supply chain challenges being faced by the industry, we have delivered 8+% ASK and overall around 9%. We have always treated our OEM partners as partners. We work together. In difficult times like the current challenging operating conditions, we are working very closely with them to deal with the reality of the operation, to try and support each other to really deliver the kind of reliability as best as we can. The proof is in the pudding, as you will say, and we have delivered very robust ASK materialization. This is work in progress. Challenge continues.
Thank you, Kai Ping. We'll take one or two more from the online crowd. We've got Shukor from Endau Analytics.
He's asking, how do you view the flurry of Boeing orders announced during Trump's Gulf tour this week? Will this push airlines like Qatar Airways, give them a competitive edge going forward?
Shukor should probably know that we do not comment on other people's orders or business.
Thank you. We've got Perry Young from UBS asking, in terms of cost, are we still comfortable to expect a relatively flat and steady unit cost despite the continuous cost inflation pressure and ongoing supply chain issues?
I think we talked about cost management, and Choon Phong covered this. Even for this year, notwithstanding all the cost management measures, we do see a slight increase in our unit costs. It is really a function of what the external environment is.
But I would say that we have very strong cost management measures to try and contain this to the extent that we can.
Thank you. Questions in the room? We'll maybe go to Peck Gek and then the gentleman here. If you could have the mic here, please. Thank you.
Can I know why is SIA hedging its fuel five years out? I think in the past few years, it has been like two years maximum. Thank you.
As I mentioned at the start, it is actually very opportunistic based on pricing. For the last two years, we have, in fact, been—we haven't done this, but if you recall, before COVID, we did have a five-year sort of a hedging program. That was also to capture fuel hedges when pricing was looked attractive. It is the same rationale.
Thank you. The gentleman here, please. Hello.
I'm [Sebastian] from Nikkei. My question is on the recent announcement of the T5 groundbreaking. You commented how you see future room for growth and operational synergies by moving all your operation out of the new terminal. I know it's still ahead, but I'd like to hear a bit more how significant this is compared to your current operation using all the other terminals.
Certainly, if we are able to consolidate all of Scoot and SIA's operation under one roof, we will be able to look at how to improve the seamlessness of travel for our customers. As you know, Singapore and SQ is working really also as a hub, not just OD, to facilitate a transfer of passengers from different parts of the network onward to other parts of the network.
Having it in one location, having the transfer done in one location, you can imagine that we can do a lot more in ensuring that there's a consistency in the service level and experience. Thank you, Choon Phong.
We'll go virtual again. Brendan Sobie from Sobie Aviation, he's got two questions related to growth. The fleet is growing by 6% in the current full year . What kind of ASK growth are you expecting this year? And over the longer term, now that the group is above pre-COVID levels with about 40 million packs annually, what kind of long-term growth are you expecting? Do you expect it to average around 5%, especially given Scoot's regional opportunities?
Okay. The answer is that we will only announce when the time comes about what our expected growth for the year will be, and certainly not what our long-term growth is going to be.
We will announce it only when we think we're ready to do so.
Okay. Great. Thank you. I'll just take one more virtually. This is from Chuanren again. We've said before that there are numerous levers to overcome aircraft delays. Now that the 350 is delayed and the deliveries for the 777-9 are still unclear, how many levers do we have and what are these levers? How are we mitigating these issues? Related to that, how are the older 777-300ERs performing?
All the planes, obviously, that we have put in operations are certainly performing as per expectation. Otherwise, we wouldn't be putting them into operation. We say we have multiple levers. Some of them are probably familiar with the audience here. I mean, we have lease aircraft that we can extend the lease for.
We have aircraft that we own that we can extend the operation of. Those two already would have provided quite a bit of flexibility for us to adjust our capacity accordingly.
Thank you. We'll take another online question from [Wei Ting from Zaob ao]. Are there any hedging mechanisms for sustainable aviation fuels between SIA and producers? What kind of impact will SAF costs have on the SIA balance sheet?
If our colleague
who—[Wei Ting from Zaob ao ].
Wei Ting Wei Ting is aware of any good hedging tool for sustainable aviation fuel, we'd love to hear from her. She just asked about the impact of SAF costs on balance sheet going forward. Not material at this point in time.
Thank you.
Tom Ballantyne from Orient Aviation, he's asked, there are several reports of a significant drop in inbound tourism traffic to the U.S. because of aspects of President Trump's policies. Has SIA seen any sign of changes in traffic between Asia and the U.S.?
Simple, quick answer, no. We have seen demand from the parts of the world that we go to, bringing passengers to the U.S., hold up very well. From Asia to the U.S., no drop.
Okay. Any questions from the room? Peck Gek, right here, please. We'll go to Lewus frin Zaobao after that.
I have two questions. The first is, I noted that the group operating profit for Q4 was only about 50%. It was 50% lower than a year ago. The second question is, have all the markets, including the Chinese market, recovered to the pre-pandemic levels? Thank you. That is correct.
The question was whether there was any reason for the Q4 performance. The drivers, really, we talked about the improvement in revenue being outweighed by increases in costs applies across the different quarters. No, there is no material difference in any of these between the different, whether you look at quarter four or the full year. Okay.
Thank you.
Lewis is from Siva.
Siva one more.
Oh, sorry. I'm sorry.
When you say China market, outbound travel from China has not yet recovered to the pre-pandemic levels. We have seen quite a surge in inbound travel into China in the last six months or so. That has allowed us to improve our load factors on our China flights. Our China flights last year were only registering load factors in the 70s. This year, we have managed to push them up into the 80s.
It is improving from a route perspective. Thanks. Thank you.
Lewis Ong from Zaobao . Just to follow up, is the capacity in China recovered to pre-COVID level? These are my first questions. Second question on bonus. Congratulations to all SIA staff for another more than seven months of bonus. Going forward, given the situation you just described, do you have any guidance on bonus expectations? Sorry. Another question. SIA and ANA will commence revenue-sharing flights between Japan and Singapore from September. It's already on sales. How are the sales so far?
Thanks.
Capacity to China for SIA has largely recovered back to the pre-COVID levels since we've been able to get back. We have been able to operate regular flights to some of the secondary cities like Xiamen, Chengdu, Chongqing, and Shenzhen.
Capacity to the main cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou are back to their pre-COVID levels. As far as Scoot is concerned, China is quite a very important market for us. At this moment, we have recovered up to about 80% of pre-COVID capacity. If you recall, we have also announced that we have actually suspended three Chinese destinations. At the same time, we added Santoe. For Scoot, we are operating to 15 cities in mainland China. No guidance on bonus.
ANA as well. There is a question on how ANA sales have been. The joint venture sales. It is still very early days, but we certainly do believe that it will result in both benefits for the customer where they have much more choice and availability of services.
Danny from Bloomberg, and then maybe we'll take one or two more questions, and we'll end there. Is there any kind of missing parts of the world where you feel you are still targeting joint ventures or are interested in partnering with other airlines? Sorry, you're saying? Is there any parts of the world geographically where you still feel you are missing joint ventures or are interested in pursuing?
All discussions that we have with our partners are confidential. We will only announce when we are ready to do so.
Thank you. Okay. We've got one more online question from Shukor again. There's a new prime minister, new cabinet lineup in Singapore. Congrats to Choon Phong on being the longest and possibly most successful SIA CEO in its history so far. Is a succession being planned, or do you not give guidance on that? Very good question.
He has to pose it to my board.
Thank you. I think we might end on that note. Thank you, everyone. Thank you for being here for our full-year meeting analyst briefing. Have a good day and a good week.