Singapore - Singapore Airlines (SIA), one of the world's biggest carriers, on Tuesday posted a net loss for the second quarter of the 2009 fiscal year, but said there were indications for a gradual recovery after it had been hit hard by the global recession.

For the second quarter ending September 30, net losses came to 159 million Singapore dollars (114 million US dollars), reversing a profit of 324 million Singapore dollars reported a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

Total revenue for the three months through September reached 3.1 billion Singapore dollars, down from 4.37 billion Singapore dollars a year ago.

"Advance bookings indicate that demand for air travel has stopped declining and is gradually recovering," SIA said.

"The market conditions allow for some rollback of promotional pricing but yields are unlikely to get back to pre-crisis levels within the next six months," the airline added.

Singapore's national carrier had been suffering from the slump in air travel demand due to the global downturn.

For the first three months of this fiscal year the airline posted its first quarterly loss since 2003, warning that it expected a loss for the full year if the tough conditions for the airline industry persist.

The loss of 159 million Singapore dollars in the second quarter was an improvement from the first-quarter loss of 307 million Singapore dollars, SIA said.

To overcome the downturn, the airline had cut capacity and reduced working hours as well as salaries. (dpa)