SINGAPORE AIRLINES pitched in with a fine set of six months results last Friday but said the outlook for the second half would hinge on whether hostilities will break out in the Middle East. The carrier reported a net profit between April and September of $435m, over four times the figure for the same period last year. SIA said it had benefited from a faster-than-expected recovery of both passenger and cargo markets following the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States. The cargo section returned to profit and last year the airline suffered a major write down of its stake in Air New Zealand. The problems associated with Bali do not seem to have affected the airline with leisure passengers transferring to other resort destinations. Operating profit at the passenger airline fell 5.7% although SIA carried 4.8% more passengers the load factor improving 1.7% to 76.8%.
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