Singapore Airlines, the world’s biggest carrier by market value, on Tuesday reported a 43 per cent fall in net profits to S$337m ($224m) for the last three months of 2008, exceeding market expectations.

The October-December period saw a drop in passenger and cargo traffic. But passenger yields, which are average fare levels and a key measure of profitability, rose by 3.2 per cent from a year ago in spite of falling sales of premium class seats. Cargo yields fell by 5.7 per cent because of a slowdown in global trade.