Fuel expenses top cost for air transport firms in Singapore: survey

Fuel expenses cost more than remuneration for air transport firms in Singapore in 2009, although air transport services were the best paid among six industries of the transport and storage sector, according to a latest survey.

The survey on transport and storage services industry carried out in 2010 for the year 2009 by the Department of Statistics found fuel expenses took up 27.7 percent of the operating expenditure of air transport firms, which were the top cost factor, the Business Times reported on Friday.

Most other groups said that remuneration was the biggest business cost, taking up between 21 and 41 percent of operating expenses.

The transport and storage services industry generated 70.9 billion Singapore dollars (about 54.9 billion U.S. dollars) in operating receipts in 2009, down 16.2 percent year on year.

The total number of firms in transport and storage services inched down 6.5 percent to 9,102 in 2009.

They turned in 19.5 billion Singapore dollars (15.1 billion U.S. dollars) worth of added value, 20 percent lower than 2008. The drop was attributed to "lower value added registered by water and air transport services."

The most profitable companies were those in storage and warehousing services. These had a 42.1 percent profitability ratio.

Source:Xinhua