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Singapore Airlines raises additional $541 million to boost liquidity
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Aircraft of Singapore Airlines and its low-cost subsidiary Scoot are parked on the tarmac of Changi International Airport in Singapore on March 16. (AFP/Roslan Rahman)
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ingapore’s national flag carrier, Singapore Airlines (SIA), has raised an additional S$750 million (US$541 million) from long-term loans on some of its Airbus A350-900 and Boeing B787-10 aircraft to boost its liquidity amid the ongoing global health crisis, it announced on Thursday.
With the completion of the transaction, SIA in total has raised S$11 billion since the start of this year, of which S$1.65 billion comes from secured financing, S$8.8 billion from a rights issue and S$500 million from credit lines and a short-term unsecured loans from financial institutions.
“During this period of high uncertainty, Singapore Airlines will continue to explore additional means to shore up liquidity as necessary,” the company’s statement reads.
The airline added that all existing committed lines of credit that were due to mature this year had been renewed until 2021 or later and that, combined with the new lines of credit, SIA had ensured continued access to more than S$2.1 billion in committed liquidity.
SIA also said that it retained the option to raise up to S$6.2 billion from additional mandatory convertible bonds, which would provide further liquidity when necessary.
The COVID-19 pandemic has battered the demand in the aviation industry amid social restrictions and travel curbs that have forced airlines to ground their fleets.
Earlier this month, SIA announced that Singapore Airlines Group – which includes budget carrier Scoot – would operate at approximately 7 percent of its scheduled capacity in August, a slight increase from only 6 percent this month.
The carrier also canceled 96 percent of its scheduled flights between late-March and end-May in response to travel restrictions worldwide and a plunge in demand for air travel.
According to a report released on June 9 by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the share of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) spent on air transportation is expected to be halved in 2020 at $434 billion, or 0.5 percent of the GDP.
The association dubbed 2020 as the worst year in history for the airline industry, as global airlines are expected to lose $84.3 billion this year, while revenue is projected to fall by 50 percent from last year’s $838 billion.
