Singapore Airlines probably
outperformed the competition last quarter by
using nine new Boeing 777-300ERs after Airbus delayed deliveries of its A380 superjumbo jet.
The planes may have helped Singapore Airlines double its net income to S$549 million ($360 million) in the quarter ended March, according to the median estimate of six analysts.
Sales probably climbed 4.7 percent to S$3.55 billion. The company is due to report earnings on May 11.
While the Airbus debacle slowed Singapore Airlines's expansion plans, the company replaced the missing jets faster than Emirates Airline and other carriers.
Singapore Airlines boosted its passenger traffic 9.8 percent in the three months ended March, outpacing growth in the Asia-Pacific region.
"The timing of the delivery of the 777s was excellent" for Singapore Air, said Peter Drolet, a Hong Kong-based analyst at UOB Kay Hian Pte. "The others don't have that benefit."
Singapore Airlines received its ninth 777 in March.
Emirates, the biggest A380 customer, with 47 on order,
will lease five 777s as stopgap replacements for its superjumbos, it said on March 6. It won't get the 777s until the second half of this year.
Chief Executive Officer Chew Choon Seng
is buying new planes to improve service. The carrier last year ordered nine more A380s, raising its total to 19, and 20 mid-range Boeing 787s. It also signed a letter of intent to purchase 20 A350 XWBs, a twin-aisle plane that Airbus is developing.
Full-year profit probably rose 61 percent to a record S$2 billion, based on the median estimate.
Singapore Airlines hedged about 55 percent of its fuel needs until the end of its fiscal year in March at an average price of $81 a barrel, Chew said in October. Fuel is the airline's single largest expense, accounting for
37 percent of total spending in the quarter ended December.
The price of jet fuel averaged $72.11 a barrel in Singapore in the three months ended March, 4.8 percent lower than a year earlier, according to data.