chinatraderjmr

Thanks Singapore Don I guess English isn't his first (or even 3rd language) I do tend to ramble but it didn't look to me that what I wrote was so hard to follow

chinatraderjmr

I would bet UA backed them all the way. EK is looking at another European gateway to the US (besides the MXP flight it has now to JFK) and I think MAN was one of the airports they were looking at. With SQ flying out of MAN into the US, I doubt there is room now for EK. The only thing with UA/SQ is the fares. Will UA lower their fares to compete with SQ (considering they will also be making their passengers change planes in EWR or IAD) SQ's %th Freedom flights usually are cheaper then non stops operated by flag carriers of the destination/origin airports. JFK-FRA on SQ has great J and F fares, SQ DME-IAH has some deals in F and J as well though not as many.

bgriff

SQ actually does have the rights to fly London-US if it wants: https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...s-deal-218855/

But considering that SQ would have a hard time competing with the local market presence and greater frequencies offered by BA and UA on the route, and the fact that they would have to find/pay for 2 pairs of LHR slots to send a service via LHR, they may have decided this was an easier option.

I'm still surprised they didn't find a bigger European city with limited/no IAH service though. Surely there must be more appealing options.

pogonation

If they work out some good code-shares with UA they could benefit from a lot of N.England to USA flights. MAN currently only flies to east coast destinations (and ORD and a LAS flight which is for holidaymakers) so IAH provides a much better transit point for getting to the West Coast and central america and means flying a decent airline airline rather than a N.American carrier. If UA puts their number on the SQ flight too I reckon this could fill a few extra seats. UK attracts a lot of US visitors to the north of England and Scotland.

I can't see there being lots of O&D demand which obviously has to be taken into account because that is where a lot of the money comes from especially when others have pointed out there is good money to be made by connecting IAH with an oil city (which MAN is not)

delta154

Singapore Airlines hold the rights to serve any UK-USA route, as they can take advantage of the fact the UK/Singapore and USA all hold open skies agreements with rights up to 6th freedom (7th freedom also permitted for cargo only flights)

In terms of 'MAN only flies east coast destinations', the destination portfolio has expanded a lot in the past few years.

JFK/EWR/BOS/PHL/IAD/PHL/ATL/MCO/SFB/MIA/LAS/ORD and LAX now all served, with SFO confirmed to join next summer and now strong suggestions that IAH and DTW set to follow too. The number of destinations served is on par with some European capitals.

The connection market from Manchester to Houston is actually bigger than some people think. I don't have the exact numbers to hand, but, it's not exactly a strange idea. PIA has served MAN-IAH in the past, and of course, the main aims of this flight are to serve SIN-MAN and SIN-IAH. Any MAN-IAH-MAN is a bonus.

bgriff

Unfortunately, for whatever reason (I can think of a few possible ones), UA and SQ have never seemed particularly inclined to much cooperation. But surely some *A loyalists in IAH will choose to take the SQ flight and credit miles to UA (just as some of them probably do now to DME).

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Actually it seems like the ice between SQ/UA is thawing: UA and SQ to Start Codesharing

SQ will start codesharing on IAH-ATL/AUS/DFW/FLL/MCO/MIA/MSY/TPA and UA also applied for authority to put its code on any SQ flights — and a UA codeshare on IAH-MAN makes way more sense than IAH-DME.

In the context of this announcement the codesharing deal makes a lot more sense.

FN-GM

However SQ have announced a direct service between SIN and SFO to rival UA 1.

Sam Bee

These changes appear to be happening earlier than reported up thread - from 30 Oct 16. I'm putting the schedules here in case it helps anyone?

From 30 Oct:

.23.567 MAN IAH 1015 1535 SQ 52 77W
.23.567 MAN IAH 1015 1435 SQ 52 77W

.23.567 IAH MAN 1915# 1005 SQ 51 77W
.23.567 IAH MAN 2015# 1005 SQ 51 77W

1.34.67 MAN SIN 1135# 0820 SQ 51 77W
1.34.67 MAN SIN 1135# 0820 SQ 51 77W

.23.567 SIN MAN 0235 0900 SQ 52 77W
.23.567 SIN MAN 0235 0900 SQ 52 77W

1234567 SIN MUC 2310# 0510 SQ 328 77W
1234567 MUC SIN 1300# 0740 SQ 327 77W

MUC 4 class 777-300W at the moment, MAN&IAH 3 class 777-300W.

Early days so all above may change!

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This will be fun... booked on SQ61 departing on a Thursday in December. (SQ61 used to be x13 but SQ51 looks like it's x14.) Booking still shows IAH-DME-SIN and no notification from SQ yet. Can't fly a day earlier or later so I wonder what will happen/if I'll be allowed a reroute onto SQ25.

VeryHumerus

i cant book the iah-man right now. it keeps saying to pick an alternative date.

can anyone tell me the cost of miles and the surcharges?

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SQ is selling seats for SQ51/52 now (although I only see Flexi fares) — but also at the same time still selling seats on the same dates for SQ61/62 lol . Give it a few days for fares/inventory to be loaded?

nivla83

My SQ68 SIN-BCN has been changed to SQ378 SIN-MXP-BCN.
SQ 327 MUC-SIN rescheduled to depart from 1300HRS to 1220HRS.