TravelBuzz! - Why is LHR so valuable for SQ & CX?

It seems to me and probably to most others that London is such a valuable destination for both SQ and CX. Both carriers offer 3 daily flights from their respective hubs and all the flights run to near full capacity most of the time. Where do these carriers get most of the heavy traffic from? I'm suspecting it has something to do with the heavy loads of pax travelling between UK & Australia/New Zealand. But obviously there are many other factors as well that I'm not too sure about. Can someone fill in.

London, Hong Kong and Singapore are three of the most important financial centers for one.

Both Asian cities are among the top 5 harbours in the world. The shipping companies alone generate an enormous turnover as they are the main hubs for containers in SE Asia. On the other hand, London has remained the capital of the shipping industry, as well for insurance companies. HKG has just been overtaken by Shanghai as the main gateway for business with China, Singapore remains the main gateway for business in the whole of SE Asia, thanks to a stable government, low taxes, excellent infrastructures, etc.
Banking is also very important. CX and SQ have dominated the market for that region for years as large hubs.

HKG thrives on tourism, Singapore is the ideal stopover to Australia and NZ.
Both cities are driving forces in the Pacific Rim wich adds to their success.

London on the other hand is the largest hub in Europe and has a long tradition of doing business with Asia. All these factors as well as fierce pricing competition bring the two companies many passengers.

One other; of many; is there's a large Singaporean student population in the UK and LHR is a gateway. LHR is also a major hub in Europe. SQ also uses it to feed; to some extent; VS flights since they own 49% of VS. If SQ could, they'll fly 6 flights/day to LHR.

Yup, it's what magexpect said. :D

"HKG has just been overtaken by Shanghai as the main gateway for business with China". How so? Certainly not in the amount of international passenger traffic!

"HKG has just been overtaken by Shanghai as the main gateway for business with China". How so? Certainly not in the amount of international passenger traffic!

I believe he was talking about traffic of the type of cargo that is not self-loading. ;)

"HKG has just been overtaken by Shanghai as the main gateway for business with China". How so? Certainly not in the amount of international passenger traffic!

Sorry I should have been more precise. Shanghai took over as far as container tonnage (sea shipping) is concerned. Passenger traffic is still way behind.