Together with the $404 million net profit in the third quarter, the fourth quarter earnings reversed $466 million in losses recorded in the financial first half. The airline suffered its first quarterly loss in six years in the three months ended June 2009 and extended the losses into the September quarter before staging a turnaround.
Fourth quarter revenue was $3.34 billion, little changed from $3.32 billion the year before, said SIA. The fourth quarter was helped by a 23 per cent year-on-year drop in fuel costs to $996.5 million and 13 per cent slide in staff costs to $495.2 million. But handling charges rose 73 per cent to $235 million.
The company’s subsidiaries generally saw improvements during the fourth quarter as well, with SilkAir turning in an operating profit of $31 million, versus $17 million during the same quarter a year earlier. SIA Cargo clawed its way back into the black with operating profit of $8 million, versus a loss of $123 million in 2009. Cargo yield for the year was 74.7 cents/km, versus 88.6 cents a year ago.
SIA Engineering, which announced its results last week, contributed operating profit of $41 million, compared to $27 million last year. The company had cash of some $4.47 billion at end-March, up from $3.8 billion a year earlier.