Third quarter net profit at flight services firm Sats came in at $42.9 million, down 8.7 per cent over the same period last year on the back of a weaker Japanese yen.

This was accompanied by a 1.1 per cent dip in revenue to $465.5 million for the three months ended Dec 31.

Revenue from the company's gateway services business was up 4.3 per cent to $173.3 million, but this was offset by a 3.9 per cent drop in revenue from its food solutions business to $291.1 million.

The number of flights handled by Sats in the third quarter grew 10.2 per cent and unit services increased 6.6 over the same period last year. Cargo throughput was up 1.9 per cent.

The number of passengers handled rose 4.8 per cent to 11.25 million, driven by higher low-cost carrier traffic.