Company Watch - Singapore Airlines.

For more company news, data and analysis, please go to: http://www.airguideonline.com/professional.htm Jul 31, 2006

Singapore Airlines is expected to report an 18 percent rise in April-June net profit to around SGD$277 million (USD$175 million), excluding the sale of planes and property, according to forecasts. Singapore Airlines should next week post its first quarter of higher profits after five quarters of declining earnings, as it battles high fuel prices by hedging and keeping other costs under control. The carrier, the world's second-biggest airline by market value, faces what Chief Executive Chew Choon Seng calls "runaway fuel prices" as the price of jet fuel set a record of more than USD$90 a barrel this month. Industry experts say Singapore Airlines owes its strong performance to fuel hedging and tight cost controls, including paying lower salaries than other airlines, fewer staff benefits and no pension liabilities. The airline, ranked behind Southwest Airlines in market value, spent SGD$1.12 billion (USD$710 million) on fuel for its 90 aircraft in January-March -- more than four times its profit for that quarter -- making it the airline's single-biggest expense. But even with rocketing fuel costs, the airline has never booked a full-year loss. Jul 28, 2006

Singapore Airlines's only global brand, whose advertising heavily relies on its "Singapore Girl" flight attendants, made a profit of SGD$266 million (USD$168.5 million) in its January-March fourth quarter. The company's share price has risen 6.5 percent so far in 2006, beating a 3.6 percent gain by the Straits Times index. Analysts expect little in terms of surprises when Singapore Air releases first-quarter results on Tuesday. Jul 28, 2006

Singapore Airlines has also been holding talks with China Eastern about unspecified "possibilities". No result has been announced yet. Singapore Air shares have outperformed those of Hong Kong rival Cathay Pacific, up 3.9 percent so far in 2006, and Australia's Qantas, which have slumped 24 percent. Jul 28, 2006

Singapore Airlines flew 7.38 billion RPKs in June, an 8.5% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 2.1% to 9.24 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 4.7 points to 79.9%. Jul 25, 2006

Singapore Airlines boosts Airbus, inks LOI for A350 XWBs, more A380s. Embattled Airbus ended the Farnborough Airshow on a high note, announcing Friday that Singapore Airlines signed a letter of intent for up to 40 A350-900 XWBs and up to 15 A380s, for which SIA is the launch customer.The LOI covers 20 firm plus 20 options for the A350 XWB and nine new orders for the A380 plus six new options. The A350s will be delivered in 2012 and as an interim measure SIA will lease 19 A330-300s for delivery in 2009-10. The first of the newly ordered A380s will be delivered in mid-2008. The commitment from SIA provided a big boost for Airbus, which spent the weeks before the show attempting to recover from delays to the A380 program and contending with airlines' concerns over the original A350 design as well as a political firestorm that led to the resignation of CEO Gustav Humbert. Singapore Airlines CEO Chew Choon Seng lauded the plane-builder for heeding airlines' concerns regarding the A350. "It is heartening that Airbus has listened to customer airlines and has come up with a totally new design," he said Friday at Farnborough. "The technical specifications and guaranteed performance will make it a very competitive aircraft in its class for the coming decades." Jul 24, 2006

Singapore Airlines last week launched a thrice-weekly Singapore-Milan Malpensa-Barcelona flight aboard a 777-200ER. Jul 24, 2006

Singapore Airlines is taking delivery of its nine new A380s from mid-2008 led analysts to speculate that some carriers have either cancelled delivery positions or let them slip. The latest production delays mean that Airbus likely will not catch up on deliveries until 2010, analysts said. No airlines have announced any cancellations formally, although industry speculation mounts on the exact status of orders by Malaysia Airlines and Thai Airways. Jul 24, 2006

Singapore Airlines has ordered Boeing planes worth USD$4.5 billion, and then followed up with a surprise USD$7.5 billion order for Airbus earlier this month. The airline learnt last month that deliveries of the new Airbus A380 superjumbo, which Singapore Air hopes to fly at the end of this year, will be at least six months late. Jul 28, 2006