The airline said its November overall load factor was 69.7 per cent, unchanged from the same month of 1997. Its October load factor was also stable at 69.2 per cent.

"The latest numbers are positive. We see some form of stability for SIA after 12 months of decline starting from October '97," said Lim Eu Beng of Vickers Ballas.

Nua We Boon of Fraser Securities, agreed.

"The last two months' numbers are quite encouraging. It shows that traffic is stabilising."

However, he said SIA yields would probably continue their downward trend with the heavy discounting that airlines are giving to entice passengers to fly.

SIA does not give monthly breakdown on yields, but Nua estimated that November was probably down by 5.0 to 7.0 percent over the same period in the previous year.

SIA said its passenger seat factor rose 3.0 points to 71.4 per cent in November. This follows a 4.1-point rise in October.

Cargo load factors fell 3.7 points to 69.1 per cent in November, after falling 4.7 points in the previous month.

Analysts said the weak SIA cargo numbers reflected the fact that imports and exports out of Asia remained anaemic.

"Asian exports are not surging as hoped for and imports have plunged. SIA's cargo load factors reflect economic conditions in the region," Nua said.

Some analysts said they expected SIA load factors to improve further as the airline moderates its capacity growth with the deferral of aircraft deliveries.

"The first deferral was in December, but the bulk of the deferrals will be felt in 1999," Lim said.

He said SIA's capacity growth could halve to between 4.0 and 5.0 per cent in the fiscal year ending in March 2000.