This didn’t compare well to a loss of S$14 (US$11.2 million) made in the same period of 2011. The carrier said that “continued weakness in air freight demand exerted downward pressure on cargo loads and eroded yields”.

Over the course of the quarter, there was a 5.6 percent fall in freight traffic, even though capacity was reduced by 2.8 percent year-on-year. As a result, the cargo load factor fel by 1.9 percentage points to 62.8 percent.

Parent carrier Singapore Airlines did make an operating profit during the quarter, however, of approximately S$85 million (US$67.9 million).

Meanwhile, the carrier has confirmed a number of changes to its long-haul schedule for the winter timetable, which covers the 28 October to 30 March period.

A fourth daily service is to be added to Perth, while the A380 will be used on two out of three of the daily flights to Melbourne.

The frequency of services to Mumbai will increase to 21 flights a week (up from 19), and London Heathrow will be served four times a day (rather then three times daily).

The daily Hong Kong link via San Francisco will be flown by an A380 rather than B777-300ER between 28 December and 24 March.

Tokyo-Narita will be served by two A380 operations a day rather than one over that same timeframe. New Singapore - Jeddah flights via Riyadh will be flown three times a week, in place of the current Riyadh via Dubai and Jeddah via Dubai links. As had already been announced (ACW, 28 May, p1), Abu Dhabi services will be suspended from late October, as will the Athens connection.

Service frequency to Milan and Barcelona will fall from seven times a week to five times weekly, while flights to Istanbul will be four times a week rather than five times weekly. Finally, the Singapore - Frankfurt - New York routeing will be flown by B777-300ER rather than A380 between 27 December and 24 March.

The carrier said that all adjustments are being made “in line with efforts to redeploy capacity to markets where demand is stronger”.