Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi) has raised a further SGD750 million Singapore dollars (USD542 million) from long-term loans secured on "some of its A350-900 and B787-10 aircraft," the carrier announced in a statement on July 23.

The flag carrier, which is majority-owned by the government's Temasek Holdings, has now raised about SGD11 billion (USD7.95 billion) in liquidity since the start of the 2020/21 financial year in April as it shores up its cash pile amid plummeting demand.

This consists of SGD8.8 billion (USD6.36 billion) from a Temasek-backed rights issue, SGD1.65 billion (USD1.19 billion) from secured financing, and a little over SGD500 million (USD361 million) from "new committed lines of credit and a short-term unsecured loan from financial institutions," it summarised.

As previously reported, Singapore Airlines' total financing is among the largest amounts raised by any carrier during the ongoing global health crisis.

All of its existing committed lines of credit that had been due to mature this year have been renewed "until next year or later," which, together with new committed lines of credit, "ensures continued access to more than SGD2.1 billion [USD1.52 billion] in liquidity."

The airline also has the option of raising up to SGD6.2 billion (USD4.48 billion) in additional mandatory convertible bonds. This option would be supported by Temasek and can be activated until July 2021.

"During this period of high uncertainty," the carrier "will continue to explore additional means to shore up liquidity as necessary," it assured.

On May 15, the airline posted its first-ever annual loss for the year ending March 31 - a net loss of SGD212 million (USD153 million) - and later warned it would report an operating loss in the first fiscal quarter of 2021, the Straits Times reported. It is operating at about 6% of its scheduled capacity for July, to rise to 7% for August.