Singapore Airlines Posts Profit Drop, Flags Fuel-Cost Headwind

By Kimberley Kao

Singapore Airlines' annual revenue climbed to a new high, but profit fell after three straight years of record earnings, adding to uncertainty as the Middle East conflict continues to cloud the outlook for the airline industry.

The city-state's flag carrier said Thursday that net profit fell 57% to 1.18 billion Singapore dollars, equivalent to US$927.5 billion, for the 12 months ended March. That still exceeded analysts' expectation of S$1.075 billion, according to a Visible Alpha poll.

The profit decline was primarily due to the absence of the S$1.10 billion noncash accounting gain recognized in November 2024 after the Air India-Vistara merger, the airline said. Its share of losses from associated companies for the fiscal year was due to accounting for Air India's full-year losses, compared with only four months for the previous year, SIA said.

Revenue rose 5.0% to a record S$20.52 billion. Operating profit jumped 39% to S$2.375 billion, supported by healthy demand for air travel, stronger yields and lower full-year net fuel cost.

"Heightened geopolitical tensions, including the conflict in the Middle East, are a major headwind for the airline industry," with the most immediate impact being elevated jet-fuel prices, SIA said.

"As the group's fuel bills are typically priced on a lagged basis, the impact is only partially reflected in March," the airline said, adding that it expects the full impact to feed through this fiscal year.

Write to Kimberley Kao at kimberley.kao@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 14, 2026 06:29 ET (10:29 GMT)