Singapore Airlines (SIA) has reported another month of passenger and cargo load factor growth on a decline in passenger capacity and a controlled increase in freight capacity.

The Star Alliance carrier says in a statement that passenger load factor improved to 81.6% last month from 79.7% in August last year, while cargo load factor improved to 62.2% from 61.5%.

It says revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased 2% last month while available seat kilometres (ASKs) decreased 0.3%. The number of passengers carried increased 5.1% to 1.62 million.

Freight traffic in terms of tonne kilometres increased 5.3% while capacity increased 4.1%. The amount of freight carried increased 6.1% to 110,500t. SIA's passenger load factor in particular has been rising in recent months as demand has remained strong and the number of Boeing 747-400s in its fleet has been reduced.

The airline expected to have had several Airbus A380s in service by now but its first is not due to enter service until late October due to extensive delays in the programme.