Russia's largest airline, Aeroflot, says it expects profits for the first six months of the year to fall by 15 percent because of the effects of the war in Iraq and the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
A statement from the company Tuesday said it expects first half profits of $16.8 million this year, compared to $19.8 million in 2002.
Earlier, Aeroflot announced it was cutting the number of weekly flights to China by more than half because of reduced traffic due to SARS fears.
The airline says it will look at ways to cut costs to offset the lowered revenues. However, Aeroflot is remaining profitable at a time when many airlines are reporting heavy losses.