Japan Airlines Co. said Thursday that the Sept. 11 terror attacks caused its interim net profit to plunge 61.3 percent to 16.4 billion yen and may lead the group into the red by the end of fiscal 2001.

Consolidated interim pretax profit shrank by a sharp 57.2 percent to 23.87 billion yen on operating revenues of 871.26 billion yen, down 0.3 percent, for the April-September period.

For the full fiscal year, the nation's largest airline expects a net loss of 40 billion yen, compared with a net profit of 41.02 billion yen posted a year earlier.