Singapore Airlines reported on Thursday a 59 per cent fall in first-quarter net profit, below analyst expectations, because of a steep rise in the oil price and a lack of one-off items that had boosted profit the previous year.
The carrier, a benchmark for Asia's full-service airline industry, earned 140 million Singapore dollars (Dh377.9m) in the three months ended June 30, down from a revised figure of 338m Singapore dollars a year before, it said in a stock-exchange filing.
The previous-year figure was restated because of accounting changes and had included one-off benefits from changes to its frequent-flyer programme accounting and compensation for aircraft delivery slots.
Maybank had forecast a core net profit of 251m Singapore dollars for the first quarter excluding exceptional items. However, an unidentified analyst had expected 295m Singapore dollars, according to Thomson Reuters.
Group revenue fell 0.5 per cent to 3.84 billion Singapore dollars during the quarter.
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In May, The National reported that the airline will launch the world's longest commercial flight on October 11, with a non-stop service between Singapore and New York using the new Airbus A350-900ULR.
At 16,700 kilometres, the flight to Newark Liberty International Airport will eclipse the Qatar Airways route from Doha to Auckland, which clocks in at 14,529km and a flight time of 17 hours and 40 minutes.
Singapore Airlines currently serves New York JFK daily via Frankfurt. It also plans to introduce non-stop flights from Singapore to Los Angeles with the A350-900ULR at a later date.
It expects to receive its first A350-900ULR in September, with all seven on order due by the end of the year.
