National carrier Air New Zealand on Wednesday said it was suspending services to Singapore and revamping other long-haul services in a bid to improve profitability in the face of soaring fuel prices.

The airline said it would also scrap services from Christchurch to Los Angeles, fly smaller aircraft on services to London and was reviewing some of its Pacific services.

"The moves we are announcing today are the beginning of a carefully thought out repositioning process to continue profitably growing Air New Zealand," said Rob Fyfe, Chief Executive Officer.

The airline's daily services to Singapore would be suspended from October 2 because of low traffic, which had seen it incur heavy losses. Singapore Airlines is the only other airline flying directly between the two countries.

"North Asian routes represent substantially greater growth prospects than Southeast Asia which is already well served with international airline capacity," Fyfe said.

Air New Zealand starts services to Shanghai in November, and is routing a second flight to Britain through Hong Kong in October.

The airline would replace Boeing 747-400 aircraft on flights to Britain through Los Angeles with newly acquired smaller, more fuel-efficient Boeing 777s.

It blamed high fuel prices and soft demand for its decision not to resume flights between Christchurch, the biggest city in the South Island, and Los Angeles.

The number of flights to Tahiti was also under review.

Fyfe said Air New Zealand was still increasing its total long-haul capacity by 9 percent in the 2007 financial year, but was working to be a "stronger, more nimble" operator with profitable routes.

The airline gave no indication on the level of savings expected from the planned changes.

Two weeks ago it said long haul loads were down, but upped its forecast earnings before tax and unusuals to around NZD$140 million (USD$86 million) for the year to June 30, because of cost cutting.

Air NZ slimmed down to a no-frills domestic service in 2002, cut costs on its trans-Tasman services, and has upgraded its long-haul fleet as part of a recovery from near-collapse in 2001. It has also moved to outsource aircraft engine maintenance and cleaning.