Airline public affairs chief Rick Clements said it was "a bit harsh" to say SIA had one of the world's worst safety records in recent times when the performance of its subsidiary SilkAir was also taken into account.

A SilkAir flight crashed in Indonesia less than three years ago killing all 104 on board.

Just hours before the Los Angeles-bound jumbo jet crashed in Taipei Oct 31night, another SIA 747 had to return to Singapore's Changi airport just after take off because of an engine failure.

On Nov 1an SIA Boeing 777 was forced to make an unscheduled stop in Brisbane, Australia for repairs when a warning light came on.

When asked at a media briefing on whether SIA would re-look at its maintenance program, Clements said: "We always pay the strictest attention to maintenance and we always will."

All questions related to the possible cause of the Oct 31night's tragedy he said would have to be referred to Taiwan investigators.

Foong Chee Kong, the flight captain, had spoken to his superiors after the accident, but Clements was unable to add to Foong's original statement that he saw and hit "an object" on the runway

"I have received no further information. We have spoken to him but it is the investigating authorities who will be speaking to him on matters pertaining to the accident."

Clements said he had watched live coverage Nov 2 afternoon of the Taiwan release of preliminary findings in the crash inquiry, which raised the possibility of a runway light problem, and claims by pilots waiting behind the doomed Singapore jet that the plane used the wrong runway.

But he said questions on those issues had to be directed to Taiwan investigators.

"I would not be able to confirm anything about the investigation because the airline does not control the investigation," he said.

Asked whether the plane should have attempted to take off at all in gale force winds and driving rain, Clements said the cross-wind at the time was no more than 15 knots and the Boeing recommended maximum for the aircraft was 30 knots.