16/05/2026

BIZ & FINANCE SATURDAY | MAY 16, 2026

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Singapore Airlines adds flights as rivals cut back SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines (SIA) will continue to grow its capacity, executives said yesterday, even as some of its biggest rivals like Cathay Pacific and Qantas cut flights due to surging fuel prices caused by the Middle East conflict. launch flights from its Singapore hub to Madrid via Barcelona, as well as increase frequencies to Manchester, Milan, Munich and London Gatwick in the latter half of the year. owns a 25.1% stake alongside majority shareholder Tata Group, further compounded the profit decline.

Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong said yesterday that its investment in Air India would be a “long game”, adding that “there is no shortcut”. As for a potential capital injection into Air India, Goh said: “You can expect that it’s a discussion that we’ll have to have with our fellow shareholders.” DBS analyst Jason Sum said Air India would continue to be a drag on Singapore Airlines’ bottom line for the next two to three years as it follows through on its transformation plan. A key part of that transformation plan also involves an order book of more than 500 new planes, which will require significant external funding

Even as it adds services, Singapore Airlines has pointed to narrowing margins, saying fare hikes have not been enough to fully offset the rise in the price of jet fuel, the group’s single-largest expenditure item. “We want to price at a point that customers are still willing to buy, so we will have to watch the market carefully,“ Lee said. Singapore Airlines on Thursday reported a 57.4% fall in full-year net profit to S$1.18 billion due to the absence of a S$1.1 billion one-time gain in the year-ago period from the integration of its Vistara joint venture into Air India. Losses from Air India, in which it

In a results briefing, the Singapore carrier pointed to its strong balance sheet with S$7.9 billion (RM24 billion) of cash and continued demand for its flights, particularly as passengers seek out alternate hubs to avoid transiting in the Gulf. “We are in a position where we don’t need to cut capacity,“ Singapore Airlines chief commercial officer Lee Lik Hsin told analysts and reporters. “I cannot comment on the other airlines, but our financial position is strong, and therefore we are actually growing rather than cutting capacity.” The airline said last week it would

Strong passenger demand shields SIA from immediate impact of fuel volatility. - PEXELS PIX

difficult to give an estimate for how much capital would be required. “It’s likely that Air India might have to push back some aircraft deliveries as well, so they really have to pace out aircraft deliveries...at a tempo that is more manageable for the group,“ he said. – Reuters

from Singapore Airlines, given that Air India is still making losses, he added. “SIA really does have one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry...so they can definitely afford to take on more debt to help inject more capital into Air India as well,“ he said, although he added that it is quite

India hikes retail fuel prices for first time since Iran war US$120 (RM471) a barrel, before pulling back to around US$100 to US$105.

AI stock boom propels South Korea’s

Kospi above 8,000 SEOUL: South Korea’s benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) topped 8,000 points for the first time yesterday, buoyed by an artificial intelligence-driven boom in the country’s semiconductor industry. The index briefly rose above the milestone in morning trade before falling back into the 7,900 range later in the session. It marked the latest high point in a meteoric rise for the Kospi, which was trading at around 2,600 points just a year ago. South Korea is home to tech giants Samsung Electronics and SK hynix – key suppliers of high-performance chips that power AI infrastructure globally. Both of the firms have posted record first-quarter earnings as demand surges for the fast-evolving technology worldwide. Shares in Samsung Electronics have risen around 190% over six months, while SK hynix shares gained 220% over the same period. The global frenzy to build AI data centres has sent orders for the companies’ advanced, high-bandwidth memory microchips soaring. South Korea has said it will triple spending on AI this year, aiming to join the US and China as one of the top three AI powers. Lee Jae-won, an analyst at Yuanta Securities in Seoul, said the Kospi is likely to maintain its upward trend for the time being. “Beyond semiconductors, major sectors by market cap also include AI-related power equipment and infrastructure used in AI data centres,“ he told AFP. But there is no guarantee that the same level of AI demand will continue in coming years, said Kim Dae-jong, a business professor at Sejong University. “Demand for AI data centres is arguably uncertain beyond the next two years,“ he told AFP. Seok Byoung-hoon, an economics professor at Ewha Womans University, said it is unclear whether expectations for future earnings “have already been priced into current share prices or whether they can continue to drive stocks higher”. AI-related shares also rallied on Wall Street overnight, with chip giant Nvidia jumping 4.39%.

public sector firms, signalling a system-wide tightening of expenditure and operations as financial risks mount. The government did not respond to a Reuters email seeking comment. Analysts say the increase is modest and leaves plenty of scope to raise prices further to compensate for revenue losses. “India’s petrol demand growth will be impacted, although the price hike is modest, but other fuel conservation steps such as work from home will dent demand growth,” said Prashant Vashisth, vice-president and co-head of corporate ratings at Moody’s Indian arm ICRA Ltd. ICRA has revised its growth rate for gasoline use to 3-4% this year compared with 5-6% before the war, due to the price increase. For gasoil or diesel, ICRA expects growth to be flat from an earlier estimate of 2-3%. Analysts and opposition parties said state retailers had delayed raising prices during key state elections. The polls ended this month, with Modi’s BJP winning two of four states and expanding its influence. Oil ministry official Sujata Sharma said in April that higher oil prices after the war started caused Indian retailers to lose about 100 rupees per litre on diesel and about 20 rupees a litre on petrol. In late March, Russia-backed Indian private refiner Nayara Energy raised its pump prices to mitigate some of its revenue losses from retail sales. – Reuters AI models and OpenAI could lose its unique role within Apple’s software. Apple is testing integrations with both Anthropic’s Claude and Google Gemini as part of this push, the report said. Apple’s embrace of other AI providers is not driving the company’s legal action, the source confirmed, because the partnership was not meant to be exclusive from the start. Google’s Gemini is expected to power Apple’s revamped Siri coming this year. Apple is scheduled to hold its annual software developer conference in June, where it is expected to reveal more details about its AI plans. – Reuters

o Work-from-home push and travel curbs return as country braces for prolonged oil crisis NEW DELHI: India’s state-run fuel retailers have raised petrol and diesel prices for the first time in four years by 3 rupees (RM0.12) per litre, or more than 3%, according to dealers, to recoup some of the losses incurred due to higher global crude oil prices. India – the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer – is one of the last major economies to raise retail fuel prices following the disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz by the war started by US-Israeli attacks on Iran. State-run Indian Oil Corp – Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp – which together control more than 90% of India’s 103,000 fuel stations, tend to set diesel and petrol prices in tandem. A BPCL spokesman confirmed the price increase at its retail outlets. Indian Oil and HPCL did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Diesel in Delhi will cost 90.67 rupees a litre and petrol 97.77 rupees, reflecting increases of 3.4% and 3.2%, respectively, from 87.67 rupees and 94.77 rupees a litre. Global oil prices spiked to more than partnership with OpenAI has become strained, with the AI startup failing to see the expected benefits from its deal with the iPhone maker and preparing possible legal action, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday. OpenAI wanted to resolve its issues with Apple without resorting to legal action, but its lawyers are actively working with an outside legal firm on a range of options, the source said. The options include notifying Apple of a breach of contract but not filing a full lawsuit, the source said, confirming a Bloomberg News report on OpenAI’s internal deliberations. In 2024, Apple announced integration of its

Shares of fuel retailers were down between 2.4% and 3.6% yesterday. Indian Oil Corp fell 2.4%, HPCL dropped 3.3% and BPCL was down 3.6% as of 0550 GMT. The direct impact of the higher fuel prices would be muted at about 15 basis points on consumer price inflation, although the indirect impact will be larger, said Madhavi Arora, chief economist at Mumbai-based Emkay Global Financial Services . “The hikes are not enough but could be the start of multiple staggered hikes,” she said. To curb fuel consumption and rein in oil import bills, New Delhi has rolled out austerity measures as policymakers brace for a prolonged energy shock. On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged a spate of measures including fuel conservation, work-from-home practices, and limits on travel and imports, as surging global energy prices put pressure on the country’s foreign exchange reserves. Some states have issued notices to government departments this week to restrict travel, avoid physical events and shift meetings online, while also asking them to work from home two days a week, with offices half-staffed. India is likely to widen the measures to cover millions of employees across the federal government, state-run banks and “Apple Intelligence” technology across its apps including Siri and bringing OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT to its devices. Their partnership allows users to access ChatGPT results through Siri, while iPhone users can also sign up for ChatGPT memberships directly from the iOS settings menu. OpenAI believed that the deal would boost ChatGPT subscriptions and lead to deeper integration across Apple apps, but the relationship has deteriorated, the report said, adding that OpenAI’s attempts at renegotiating the deal have stalled. Bloomberg News reported this month that Apple will allow users to select from third-party

OpenAI said to be exploring legal options against Apple SAN FRANCISCO: Apple’s two-year-old