SEA777GUY

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking...ry_782957.html

I always felt these all-business class routes were untenable....

I hope it will be the "executive economy" they had previously which had quite a bit more space than regular Y.

If so, see ya UA... no more of the NRT stops.

tycosiao

http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%...29-336546.html

The straits time link seems to be broken.

anaidross

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/singa...ness-only.html

Same topic by any chance?

blackmamba

Holy cow! This is a sure-fire way to develop DVT and get sent to the hospital. I hope SQ has an ambulance ready every time this flight lands.

djjaguar64

Good thinking SQ, an all J flight is not economically feasible.

Chesty

Nothing is confirmed at this point either way. Its just highlighting the fact that the routes are under review.

djjaguar64

Believe me anyone in their right mind is not going to let this continue on any longer, heads are gonna spin unless change is implemented. First of all these 345's are gas guzzlers and then a double whammy is when an all J flight cannot be filled to capacity.

cmdsea

This is the text of the article..

End of SIA's business-class flights to New York, LA?

Published on Mar 29, 2012




By Rachel Chang
Three years after a controversial launch, Singapore Airlines is reviewing its options to stem losses on its non-stop, all-business-class flights to New York and Los Angeles.

Company sources say that the national carrier is likely to reintroduce economy-class seats to these flights in a bid to boost revenue.

Reconfiguring its five A345 planes - fuel-guzzlers built for long journeys - to include economy seats will be an expensive undertaking. But rising fuel prices have made the status quo untenable, said sources.

The two routes, the longest all-business-class flights in the world, have been consistently loss-making for the national carrier since their launch in May 2008. Still, they were kept on SIA's roster for their 'ultra-premium' status, even as business-class demand from the US plunged after the 2008 financial crisis. But historically high fuel prices are now forcing SIA management's hand.

Awesom Andy

I believe it would make much better economic sense to simply park them somewhere then to fly these routes.

cmdsea

Better economic sense, yes. Business sense No.

These flights were never about making money. They want to prevent their premium (ie, Business paying) customers gravitating to one stop services on other carriers. Finding they like it and not coming back....

MrT123

That really sucks.

I just booked an award ticket on those flights for Feb 12 travel.

The decision could be viewed as short-sighted. It's not about making money but serving particular 'niche' market.

Does anyone know what is the load factor for those flights?

lokijuh

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the LAX services went away or had some form of Y class introduced with a stop somewhere (bet SQ would love to do a SIN-Mainland China-US service), as they seem to suffer very poor loadings. But EWR seems a lot busier - and has the prestige that LAX probably doesn't have.

SQ325

IMHO if SQ finds someone who is willing to buy that A345 for a decent price then they would let go. They are now stucked a bit because they know that introducing back Y-seats wouldnt solve the issue with revenue. They made never any money with that flight, even when they had the Y-seats in the first phase.
IMHO this is the prove that beyond a flight time of 12 to 13 hours it becomes quite difficult to earn money. IMHO with a flight time beyond 15 hours a stop in between adding another 2 hours to the flight time doesnt make much of a difference to the customers. It isnt such an advantage to go direct.

KACommuter

You mean to say it's better to lose money on the non-stop SIN/EWR and SIN/LAX than to lose the revenues attached to that business? On that basis one might as well launch non-stops on silly routes like MH did. I don't think SQ is that much of a state-owned-enterprise.

KACommuter

Yes, SQ effectively drove New York and LA passengers booking in Y to CX. Their choice is between SQ at 1 flight per day stopping in Tokyo/Seoul/FRA versus CX at 2-4 flights per day stopping in HK. More choice with CX.