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SIA to make flight network changes next year

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SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines (SIA) will make some flight network changes between March 25 and October 27 next year to match capacity with prevailing demand for travel during the Northern Summer schedule.

 

It'll add a daily service to Seoul, for a total of four flights per day, including one flight that continues to San Francisco.

 

In West Asia, there'll be two flights a day to the Maldives' capital Male, compared with the current 10 flights per week.

 

Flights to Mumbai, India, will be increased to 19 per week from the current 17.

 

There'll also be more flights to Australian cities.

 

Adelaide services will increase to 10 times per week from seven; Brisbane and Perth will each be served 21 times per week,.

 

Instead of daily flights, Singapore-Moscow-Houston services will be reduced to five times a week.

 

Singapore-Munich-Manchester services will be reduced to six times weekly from daily.

 

Singapore-Taipei services will be reduced to 14 per week from 18.

 

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I think this is a first major route expansion/increase frequency announced by any airline this year.

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SQ is expanding into Australia market at the expense of Malaysia Airlines. I usually take SQ to Down Under as the fares is cheaper (transit flight is always cheaper). Never mind the transit hours, Chnagi has enough facilities and services for you to explore.

 

But SQ has been conservative in expanding its network. Over the past few years they haven't been introducing many new routes.

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Singapore Airlines (SIA) decided earlier this week to reduce capacity to Houston, which in late March will become the carrier’s only US destination without daily service. The decision to drop two of the seven weekly Boeing 777-300ER frequencies SIA currently operates on the Singapore-Moscow-Houston route is a response to low demand. Houston has been the worst performing US destination for SIA since the carrier began serving the Texas city in 2008.

 

Data from the US Department of Transportation (DoT) show that SIA’s average annual load factor between Houston and Moscow has been 61% or lower since the service was launched in Mar-2008. Despite an average 55% load factor in 2009, SIA decided last year to increase frequency to Houston from five weekly flights to daily. But this increase, which went into effect in Nov-2010, will be reversed as SIA reverts to five weekly flights from the start of the next Northern Hemisphere winter season on 25-Mar-2012.

 

Houston is an attractive long-haul premium market given its large concentration of oil and gas companies. Two Middle Eastern carriers, Emirates and Qatar, also serve Houston as well as four European carriers – Air France, British Airways, KLM and Lufthansa. But Houston can be a difficult long-haul market for filling the economy class cabin on a year-round basis.

 

A look at SIA’s performance on Houston-Moscow shows loads are typically highest in the summer months when there is more leisure demand. In the winter and shoulder seasons, the monthly load factor has typically been in the 50s or even lower.

 

SIA currently operates seven US routes: Houston-Moscow-Singapore; Los Angeles-Tokyo-Singapore; Los Angeles-Singapore (all-premium non-stop); Newark-Singapore (all-premium non-stop); New York JFK-Frankfurt-Singapore; San Francisco-Hong Kong-Singapore; and San Francisco-Seoul-Singapore. All routes are currently served daily except Los Angeles-Singapore, which was downgraded to five weekly flights earlier this year. SIA for now is maintaining the reduced schedule of five weekly flights on the Los Angeles non-stop route through next year while also reducing Singapore-Moscow-Houston to five weekly flights.

 

In 1H2011, Houston had the lowest load factor among SIA’s seven US routes for five out of six months. The average load factor on the Houston-Moscow sector in 1H2011 was only 61%.

 

In 1H2010, before SIA upgraded the route from five weekly flights to daily, the average load factor on Houston-Moscow was a more respectable 65%. But in 1H2009, during the global economic financial crisis, the load factor was only 53%.

 

SIA’s struggle to fill up its Houston flights, particularly economy class, is evident in its pricing strategy. Houston-Singapore typically has lower economy class fares than New York-Singapore although it is a longer flight. For example, SIA offered promotional round-trip fares between Houston and Singapore of only USD1036 for travel in Oct-2011, Nov-2011 and early Dec-2011.

San Francisco-Hong Kong is SIA's best performing US route

 

San Francisco-Hong Kong has been the best performing US route for SIA from a load factor standpoint. San Francisco-Hong Kong had an average load factor of 86% in 1H2011 and recorded the highest load factor among all seven of SIA’s US routes every month from Jan-2011 to May-2011. Despite the high loads on San Francisco-Hong Kong, SIA continues to operate 777-300ERs rather than A380s on both of its San Francisco flights. SIA uses the same aircraft type for Houston.

 

DoT data also shows SIA’s Los Angeles-Tokyo service recovered quickly from the Mar-2011 tsunami and earthquake. SIA was able to achieve an average load factor on the route of 67% in Mar-2011 and 70% in Apr-2011 despite the crisis. SIA’s Los Angeles-Tokyo load factor increased to 79% in May-2011 and 93% in Jun-2011. The quick recovery on the Los Angeles-Tokyo route prompted SIA to upgrade the route to A380s at the beginning of Jul-2011.

 

SIA also unveiled plans in Sep-2011 to upgrade its Singapore-Frankfurt-New York service from 747-400s to A380s, effective 15-Jan-2012. This is currently SIA’s last remaining 747-400 route. SIA maintained a respectable load factor of 76% on the New York-Frankfurt leg in 1H2011 although the decision to go with the A380 is more a response to high demand between Frankfurt and Singapore. The trans-Atlantic leg of this route has traditionally had lower load factors than the Europe-Asia leg, especially in the winter and shoulder seasons.

Non-stop ultra long-haul Singapore-US flights are performing fairly well

 

DoT data show SIA’s exclusive non-stop flights to the US, which operate with all-premium A340-500s configured with 100 business class seats, have performed fairly well this year. The Newark-Singapore flight recorded an average load factor of 75% in 1H2011. The Los Angeles flight had an average load factor of 66% in 1H2011 but has performed better since capacity was cut from seven to five weekly flights at the beginning of May. Both non-stop routes were also scaled back during the global economic downturn as load factors sunk below 50% in late 2008 and early 2009.

 

While SIA has struggled in Houston, it is unlikely the carrier will drop the route entirely. Houston is an important business destination with high yields in business class. Five weekly flights with no service during off peak days are typically sufficient to meet demand from the business sector, as is the case with SIA’s Los Angeles-Singapore service. But any further reduction would make it difficult for SIA to continue to meet the needs of business passengers.

 

Low load factors and low economy yields during most months of the year make Houston-Moscow challenging. But SIA, which several years ago also served Chicago and Las Vegas in the US, is hoping strong premium demand is sufficient to retain the service. SIA, given its strong focus on the top end of the market, would not want to cede Houston-Asia premium passengers to its competitors from Europe and the Middle East.

 

http://www.centreforaviation.com/blogs/aviation-blog/why-singapore-airlines-is-reducing-houston-to-less-than-daily-service-65150

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I think if they want to attract business customers, reducing to 5 weekly is not a good sign. Like this even less business class customers will take that flight.

 

I was also looking at SQ's Sao Paolo service. Only 3x weekly, and to make it worst, the BCN-GRU sector leaves at 8am which means that very few people can connect from elsewhere in Europe. C class tickets are relatively cheap... maybe they are not doing so well...

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HOU is a difficult market at present; KLM was going to upgrade to twice daily eff Summer 2012, however, the 2nd service (by A332) will not be started, so it will remain at one daily flight... :(

 

QR is doing quite well there, I learned, esp. with the India-HOU traffic...

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4 flights daily to ICN ? That's very impressive !

I was just thinking the same! :o

Anyway, just look at the frequency of services they provide. That's why they're so popular with corporate travellers. If MH really want to take full advantage of corporate business travellers, they need to consolidate their network and increase frequencies. This will make it very attractive for OW elite customers to choose to fly with them. MH need to offer good connections and maintain the double daily flights to SYD and MEL as well as offering at least daily flights to BNE and ADL. Lots of Australians are travelling to Europe, so they should try to catch more of that traffic.

Edited by Josh T

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^^ And ontop of maintaining x2 Daily at both MEL & SYD, MH should send their best product to keep pax flying and to attract OW FF's especially QF's. SQ is ending their MEL A380 service next month so here's an opportunity for MH to really become more competitive by stealing SQ pax away especially ex MEL. Will MH have enough A380s to serve both MEL & SYD?

Edited by soorox

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SIA To Fly Non-Stop To Manchester


• Seasonal Sapporo flights to be operated in December

• Adelaide, Christchurch & Kolkata services to increase during peak periods


21 July 2016 - Singapore Airlines will fly non-stop between Singapore and Manchester from 30 October 2016. In addition, as part of the Northern Winter Schedule, services to Adelaide, Christchurch and Kolkata will increase during peak periods, while seasonal services to Sapporo will be operated in December 2016.


The non-stop Singapore-Manchester flights will be operated five times weekly and will continue on to Houston, which is currently served via Moscow. Flight SQ52 will depart Singapore at 0235hrs and arrive in Manchester at 0900hrs. Flight SQ52 will then depart Manchester at 1015hrs, and arrive in Houston at 1535hrs. The return flight SQ51 will depart Houston at 2015hrs and arrive in Manchester at 1005hrs. Flight SQ51 will then depart Manchester at 1135hrs, and arrive in Singapore at 0820hrs (all times local, and subject to change).


Services to Christchurch will meanwhile increase to 10 times weekly from seven times weekly between 13 November 2016 and 5 February 2017, while services to Adelaide will increase to 10 times weekly from seven times weekly between 1 December 2016 and 31 January 2017. Services to Kolkata will increase to four times weekly in December 2016, up from the current three weekly flights.


To cater to peak winter travel demand, Singapore Airlines will also operate seasonal services to Sapporo from 1 December 2016 to 5 January 2017. A total of 24 round-trip Sapporo flights will be operated during this period.

With the launch of the Singapore-Manchester-Houston service, existing Moscow-Houston and Munich-Manchester services will be suspended, from 30 October 2016. Both Munich and Moscow will continue to be served, however, on a non-stop basis to and from Singapore. Services to Munich will be operated daily, while services to Moscow will be operated four times weekly.


Singapore Airlines will also operate daily non-stop flights between Singapore and San Francisco from 23 October 2016 using Airbus A350-900 aircraft. Flight SQ32 will depart Singapore at 0830hrs and arrive in San Francisco at 0805hrs. The return flight SQ31 will depart San Francisco at 0935hrs and arrive in Singapore at 1820hrs. (all times local at the start of Northern Winter, and subject to change).


The above flight details are subject to regulatory approvals. Ticket sales for the above flights will be made available for sale through our various distribution channels on a progressive basis.


Source:


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We got multiple changes coming up..

 

SIN-DME-IAH shall cease, replaced by 5x SIN-MAN-IAH effective 30OCT16

As such, SIN-MUC (7x) and SIN-DME(5x?) will remain direct services

 

SIN-BCN-GRU shall cease, with frequency on SIN-MXP-BCN increased from present 2x to 5x weekly from 22-28 Oct. Must see from NW schedule if BCN receives a direct flight once more - Rumours are yes with the A359.

 

New SQ11/12 service opb 77W SIN-NRT-LAX (D)

New SQ7/8 service opb 77W SIN-ICN-LAX (D)

Aircraft rotations are interesting, with actual rotation for each flight being for example SIN-ICN/NRT-LAX-NRT/ICN-SIN

 

SIN-CBR-WLG starting on 21Sep16

 

SIN-SFO (ULH) in October opb A359

 

Expect JNB/CPT to eventually be completely taken over by A359 ops

 

No seasonal flights to ATH this year, ahead of ramp up of Scoot Long haul services. Expecting Scoot to op to ATH and possibly FCO (not sure if SQ will maintain existing services in addition to Scoot) if SQ drops FCO, expect a daily MXP.

 

The following are only speculative rumours of SQ operations:

 

SIN-BCN-ARN

SIN-DUB

SIN-AMS-EWR (Second daily flight/Star connections)

SIN-ARN-YYZ

SIN-YVR

SIN-IKA

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The following are only speculative rumours of SQ operations:

 

SIN-BCN-ARN

SIN-DUB

SIN-AMS-EWR (Second daily flight/Star connections)

SIN-ARN-YYZ

SIN-YVR

SIN-IKA

Looks more like a wishlist than rumours

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SIN-CGK-SYD vv.

Estimated Start Date: 23 Nov 16

Subject to regulatory approvals.

B777-200ER

 

-Mo-We-Fr-

 

Watch this space - more announcements expected in due time.

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SIN-CGK-SYD vv.

Estimated Start Date: 23 Nov 16

Subject to regulatory approvals.

B777-200ER

 

-Mo-We-Fr-

 

Watch this space - more announcements expected in due time.

 

Singapore Airlines today (28SEP16) opened reservation for new service between Indonesia and Australia, as the airline schedules Singapore Jakarta Sydney service. From 23NOV16, this route will be served 3 times a week, on board Boeing 777-200ER aircraft. Planned schedule as follow.

 

SQ261 SIN2015 2100CGK2225 0930+1SYD 772 135

SQ262 SYD1100 1435CGK1535 1810SIN 772 246

 

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/269109/singapore-airlines-expands-jakarta-sydney-service-from-nov-2016/

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A big difference between MH and SQ is the extent of customer base in Indonesia, the latter airline having a very large number of customers that are PPS status, that otherwise fly from CGK-SIN-Australia. It will be interesting to see - clearly this flight, if successful, will end up with later additions to the A350 fleet, with slightly varied configuration from what is available on the A350 now.

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