Singapore Airlines to suspend some international flights
 

FYI below in case any UA flyers were planning on redeeming *A awards flights or using SIA to earn UA miles.

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-...0129-7sf1.html

Singapore Airlines suspends flights, cuts all-business class services
January 29, 2009

Singapore Airlines said Wednesday it will suspend some international flights as the worsening global economy takes its toll on travel demand.

Flights to India, Southeast Asia, the United States and Europe will be affected, SIA said in a statement.

"Singapore Airlines is making further adjustments to its route network to better match capacity with demand," it said.

"Where demand falls, capacity adjustments will be made and this process will continue going forward."

It said the changes will be implemented progressively and will apply until the end of March.

Flights between Singapore and the Indian city of Hyderabad will be cut to three times weekly from four, the airline said.

Service between Singapore and New Delhi will be trimmed to five times a week from six, while Mumbai-Singapore service will be cut to four times a week from five.

In Southeast Asia, two flights between Singapore and Bangkok will be suspended from February 2, although the airline said it will continue to operate 25 flights a week to and from the Thai capital.

In Europe, two flights operating between Singapore and London will be suspended on Mondays and Thursdays from March 9-23. The frequency on the Singapore-London route will be cut to 19 flights a week from 21.

Services between Singapore and Zurich will be reduced from daily to five times a week, SIA said.

At the same time, it said it would add some services to the Middle East.

Earlier Wednesday, SIA said it was reducing its all-business class service to New York and Los Angeles in the face of the global economic downturn.

The 14 weekly Airbus A345 flights will be cut to 10, it said, adding the change will initially take effect between February 17 and March 25.

"This is part of our capacity adjustments to ensure capacity better matches demand during the economic downturn," SIA's vice president of public affairs, Stephen Forshaw, said in a statement.

"We don't want to be flying half-empty planes around the world any longer than we have to, because it increases our cost burden at a time when we can least afford that."

The non-stop all-business service to New York began in May last year, followed by Los Angeles in August.

SIA said its December passenger numbers were down 7.5 per cent year-on-year.

Analysts have said the airline industry will be hit hard by the deepening global economic slump which has seen people cut back on discretionary spending such as leisure travel.

Airlines based in the Asia Pacific region carried 141.5 million international passengers in 2008, or 1.8 per cent fewer than record levels in 2007, an industry group said last week.

Wow.... that's pretty steep cut.

Maybe SQ should lease some of their unused airplanes to UA and put them in good use.

Flights to India are being cut due to a dispute with TA's. SQ recently withdrew all commissions to TA's in India. This has resulted in a boycott of SQ bookings by many TA's in India, causing a big drop in load factors.

Unlike some other countries, most int'l travel in India is still booked through TA's.

The dropping of a Thursday LHR-SIN flight is not very good for FTers in terms of *A redemptions. :(

It has affected my plans.

Mr Lainys asks that if UA takes on SQ planes could they please be staffed with SQ girls? BIG :D from Mr Lainys as I type this post.

Any cuts to flights to the Middle East?

Well, from what I've heard, they're increasing flights to Abu Dhabi, so no?

Routing to CAI via DBX also instead of CAI non stop.

Probably posted elsewhere, but SQ stops all service to Amritsar in February.

Most travel in asia are still booked through travel agents too. Doesn't matter if TAs boycott SQ. If a client wants to travel SQ, the agent can't say no, we're not selling SQ. And with a choice of either Air India or SQ from India, I believe the choice is obvious.

SQ may cut the commission across the board officially, but I know SQ may still cut deals with their largest consolidators as they do in other parts of the world. Like in the USA where commissions in theory do not exist anymore, SQ has some special commission structures in place for some preferred travel agencies. And SQ isn't alone in this. Other airlines will dangle some commission sweetener if they want a slice of the pie too.

Yes, they can - they were having a meeting in BOM yesterday - I spoke with my TA to ticket an LH itinerary, but he was there...

Don't forget Jet - I would rather fly Jet than SQ - I'm (and have, as much as possible) boycotting SQ because of their "high and mighty" attitude, always.

They even had the gonads to state that they (SIN HQ, *who* knew the conditions prevailing at SIN) were not responsible for some damage to my luggage recently - absolutely amazing - even LH is better regarding such matters! (LH ^)

GB you are wrong. I know that the TA's there will tell the customer that Jet has better prices and that is how they will sell non SQ tickets. They do not need to say that they won't sell SQ tkts.


I think when in Rome do what the Romans do, so SQ should do just that, to keep its reputation intact.

Its reputation as arrogant is intact.

Yes, I am so waiting for this financial turmoil to teach SQ a lesson for being arrogant. :D

Price high - If you are not rich enough then don't consider flying with us.

Unfavorable PPS changes - If you don't pay us at least S$ 25000 within one calendar year, then you are not our 'valuable' client.

What's the difference? I've been a PPS member for the past five years and I am STILL trying to figure out what it gives me. Other than the annual duty free vouchers, I haven't found one thing that PPS does for me.

They Don't seem to get it
 

Yes, you're right. If you fly First or Business then PPS makes not an iota of difference. In view of this, one wonders why they bothered to pi*s off a very large number of formerly regular customers with the changes to PPS rules? But they certainly succeeded because I constantly hear complaints from ex-PPS members who, like me, simply refuse to fly SQ ever again on principle.
As it turns out, their timing for doing this was sublime!

Also, I don't suppose SQ Management have considered for one minute that their fares are more than the market will bear? I know of several large Companies who have prohibited the use of SQ Business Class because of the fare differentials. I find that I can consistently get Business Class fares on other quality airlines for around half the SQ fare. And I don't think the present service quality, particularly on the ground, justifies such a large premium.

IMHO, SQ Management has caused irreparable damage and should be held accountable.

:):):)

I sit here reading this with a huge grin on my face. I feel an immense sense of deja vu.

I'm a QF platinum who is also SQ PPS. SQ have got me mainly for scheduling and convenience out of MEL to a fair chunk of Asia. QF to North America/domestic Aus.

The same sorts of comments I am reading about SQ have been made about QF at different times , how they are arrogant, etc .... Always puzzles me why the critics are so unhappy with these two airlines yet they (to my knowledge) remain two of the more profitable airlines around the globe. Time will tell with the current downturn I guess, but cutting services and maintaining prices (which both airlines seem to be doing quite vigorously at the moment) seems to me to be a sound strategy to try and maintain profitability - or at the very least minimise losses.

Also interesting that some of the redemption discounts on offer seems to suggest that it isn't all one way - SQ are trying to do something for KF members and at the same time fill planes without necessarily dropping paid fare pricing too much. Regardless, I am sure they will monitor the market closely.

Both QF & SQ do to be operating in a different sphere, say compared to the likes of MH & EK which seem to be maintaining services but dropping prices substantially to try and fill planes. Interesting times ahead no doubt.....

With respect, I'm not sure that is entirely correct. From what I see, fares are not falling dramatically for all carriers, despite the fall in oil prices. Rather, during the good times, SQ went crazy in the post-IATA standard interline fare days. Against your arguement, I would add, firstly, to your list of airlines you could add many others providing quality services at a great price, including QR, EH,TG.
Secondly, it's a question of degree. Every market is a market with price points and there is a point at which you price yourself out of the market. As an example, out of Indonesia, at present, I can get RT Business Class to UK for around USD 3-4K on these airlines but USD 8K with SQ. In both cases, researched best fares on the internet and on airline websites. So that's a 100% premium for SQ! Now, that means I can bring my wife on UK trips for free and still use a very high quality carrier.

I now use EK as my carrier of choice and I even get upgraded out of DXB which happened to me TWICE in TWENTY years with SQ!! The fares are better, the lounges are better, the food and wine in the lounges are better and the crews are human, so vary quite a lot (Aka having personality)

It probably isn't, and comes from an Australian perspective.

Here we have seen huge discounts from EK from BNE/MEL-SIN (and SYD-BKK) in economy class ($600 AUD return) but only minor discounts on same routes by QF/SQ (around $1K AUD return). (although Qantas did briefly have a 2 for 1 sale - but nowhere near the EK prices). Similary towards the front in business class EK are charging around $3k for there discount return fares, whereas on QF/SQ you see fares in the order of $4.2-$4.5K. But there may be special forces at play - EK have just commenced a massive expansion of routes here which would see passengers avoid routes via SE Asia in favour of Dubai direct.

Also, EK is often mentioned in the same breath as QF/SQ in terms of profitability so they must be doing something right as well. But there are a lot of carriers who perhaps aren't as successful, and are really struggling now (MH, TG + a few European carriers??) Not sure about CX, they still seem to be tracking with the "Q"s

Thanks and, yes, you know the other thing that really pis*es me off is that airfares out of Asia are still so much higher than in The US/UK/Australia. There are also no Internet sites that provide competetive fares. Zuji is a joke from Asia. Bali/Singapore in particular is a joke. SQ/GA have a virtual monopoly which results in a RT Business Class RT of USD1K. For a 2 hour flight if you can believe?

hmmm.... this is highly questionable!

Hmm, let's see
 

Check fares on Zuji Singapore site and SQ website for fares SIN/Australia VV as an example. Then compare these fares with Australian sites and SQ Australia site for Australia/SIN VV.

Then we can talk.

Hmm, let's see
 

Check fares on Zuji Singapore site and SQ website for fares SIN/Australia VV as an example. Then compare these fares with Australian sites and SQ Australia site for Australia/SIN VV.

Then we can talk.

Good they are not cutting any domestic flights! :p

Nah they wouldn't. Those Changi-Seletar shuttles are always fully booked, that's a cash cow sector if any!