Singapore - Singapore Airlines (SIA) said Friday the sharp drop in demand for air travel due to the global downturn had levelled, but there were no signs of an upturn.

"The worsening has stopped," said company chief executive Chew Choon Seng.

SIA would be more encouraged when the demand was going up, "but we don't see that now."

SIA already announced it will reduce its capacity by 11 per cent and decommission 16 passenger aircraft from its fleet for the period to March 2010.

"We have no preset level on which we will do the next step," Chew said.

In addition, he also said that SIA was not reviving talks over a strategic investment in China Eastern Airlines.

In the long term, SIA was interested in China, said Chew. But it was "no burning priority."

On Thursday, SIA posted a slump in net profit for the fourth quarter, down 92 per cent to 41.9 million Singapore dollars (28 million US dollars), as passenger and cargo carriage declined in the worldwide recession. (dpa)