SINGAPORE (Oct 23): Shares of Tiger Airways are flat at 30.5 cents after getting so close to profitability.

The discount carrier unit of Singapore Airlines reported a net loss of $12.8 million in its fiscal second quarter, an improvement on a $182.4 million loss in the same period last year.

The airline's operational performance also improved.

Yield, which measures unit revenue for every kilometre flown by a passenger, improved 8.2% on year to 6.6 cents.

Load factor, or the portion of its planes filled, rose 1.6 percentage points to 84.1% in the quarter.

Fuel bill declined 37% on year to $45.2 million in the quarter, although it reported a higher fuel hedging loss of $13.3 million compared with $1.4 million last year.

Revenue rose 12.8% to $167.9 million.

In comparison, the Straits Times Index is up 1%.