Fuel costs, Air India losses push SIA into Q1 red despite record revenue

The group benefited from “robust demand for air travel”, with passenger revenue up 18.6 per cent to S$4.58 billion. SIA and Scoot carried a record 10.9 million passengers, up 6.3 per cent from a year ago.

However, group expenditure rose by 27.9 per cent to S$5.6 billion, mainly due to a sharp increase in net fuel cost to S$2.25 billion.

SIA group also took delivery of one Airbus320neo and three Boeing 737-8 aircraft in Q1, bringing its operating fleet to 220 passenger and freighter aircraft as of Jun 30.

SIA owns a 25.1 per cent stake in Air India, which reported a record US$2 billion loss for the last financial year and has been under scrutiny since a plane crash that killed 260 people in 2025.

The airline’s owner Tata Sons said on Monday that its turnaround could take up to a decade, extending the timeline for the carrier’s turnaround.

Tata Sons chairman attributed the longer turnaround time to persistent supply-chain disruptions in key components, the need to overhaul legacy systems, culture, fleet, and efforts to build a larger technical and airline workforce.

SIA said on Tuesday that, together with Tata Sons, it remains committed to Air India’s long-term transformation and described its investment as a key pillar of its multi-hub strategy.

It also said that “tangible progress has been made in Air India’s fleet renewal and aircraft retrofit programmes, on-ground and in-flight service enhancements, and operational performance”. 

In May, SIA CEO Goh Choon Phong said Air India’s transformation was a “long game” with “no shortcut”.