SINGAPORE – Singapore Airlines met two of its four gender diversity targets by their 2025 deadlines, including boosting the number of female pilots at its flagship airline by at least 25 per cent from 2020 levels.
However, Scoot fell short of its corresponding goal to increase the number of female pilots from 2021 levels. SIA Group’s sustainability report released on June 25 explained that “all hiring decisions are made based on a holistic assessment of role requirements against candidate capabilities, and overall fit”.
Scoot achieved its 2025 target of increasing female senior positions, referring to director roles and above, by at least 25 per cent from 2021 levels.
SIA, however, missed its target of having at least 25 per cent female employees in senior positions of vice-presidents and above by the 2025 financial year, with the report saying: “staff attrition and internal movement have resulted in a shortfall against the target.”
Slightly more than half of all SIA and Scoot employees are female, the report noted.
Overall, SIA and Scoot also grew their headcounts by 3.1 per cent year on year as at March 31 to 21,667. Of these, 3,676 were pilots, and 11,332 cabin crew.
There are 102 female pilots across the group, and 7,471 cabin crew.
When it came to workplace injuries, SIA and Scoot collectively had zero work-related fatalities during the year.
But they had two high-consequence work-related injuries, and 480 work-related injuries among their employees, resulting in an overall work-related injury rate of 18.3 injuries per million man-hours worked.
The airlines reported 10 high-consequence work-related injuries in the previous financial year, and 401 work-related injuries, translating to 15.7 injuries per million man-hours worked.
The company also reported that employees are trained to use digital and artificial intelligence (AI) tools, as these become increasingly vital to processes.
SIA has used Gen AI to enhance customer service and automate routine administrative tasks. SIA’s chatbot Kris, on the website and mobile app, was also enhanced to understand conversational messages and fulfil simple requests like arranging for airport meet-and-assist services.
Meanwhile, Scoot introduced an auto-boarding process to streamline passenger boarding and reduce reliance on manual clearance. Previously, ground handling agents had to wait for cabin crew approval before boarding could begin, resulting in an average five-minute delay after the aircraft was ready.
This has been successfully implemented at several locations, including Singapore, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney, and will be rolled out to additional stations, the report said.
On the climate front, direct greenhouse gas emissions rose 3.8 per cent to 17.8 million tonnes on higher fuel consumption from flight operations, which rose 3.8 per cent to 5.6 million tonnes.
“The increase in fuel consumption was mainly due to the increase in overall passenger and cargo operations,” the report said. “Longer routings due to airspace restrictions, among other operational factors, also led to additional fuel consumption.”
But with its fuel reduction and efficiency measures, SIA and Scoot save an estimated 118,332 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
“Aviation is widely recognised as a hard-to-abate sector with limited decarbonisation levers given available technologies in the market today,” the report noted.
SIA Group has pledged to achieve net zero carbon emissions from its operations by 2050, comprising the emissions under its operational control.
SIA Group is working with partners to scale up and adopt sustainable aviation fuel across its network. It aims to use such fuel for 5 per cent of total fuel requirements by 2030, subject to global developments and the availability of such fuel.
SIA also voluntarily bought CORSIA-eligible sustainable aviation fuel certificates, allowing it to claim 2,500 tonnes of emissions reductions. CORSIA is a global carbon offsetting and decarbonisation scheme for international aviation.
Modern, fuel-efficient aircraft also allow the group to reduce emissions. For example, the A350-900 and 787 aircraft variants are up to 25 per cent more fuel-efficient than the passenger planes they replaced, the report said.
These new-generation planes currently comprise 78 per cent of the group’s fleet, with this share expected to rise to around 90 per cent by 2030.
SIA Group is also improving operational efficiencies and enhancing infrastructure across engineering, flight and ground operations to achieve more energy savings and fuel productivity. Digital insights and advanced technologies can also help in this area, the report said.
SIA chief executive officer Goh Choon Phong said the airline industry faced an increasingly complex and evolving operating environment in the 2025 financial year.
The group had to contend with a sharp and sudden increase in jet fuel prices, rising cost pressures, and potential operational disruption due to the Middle East crisis.
During the year, the company also navigated supply chain constraints, global trade tensions, and broader macroeconomic uncertainties, he said.
But the Group remained focused on building a more sustainable and resilient long-term future, he added, noting that it is committed to its long-term ambition of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
“Ultimately, our sustainability efforts support a broader purpose: to help make aviation more sustainable for future generations, so that the benefits of air travel endure,” he said.
