SIA is taking into consideration the problems generated by the European crisis by reducing its frequencies in Southern Europe while increasing its presence in Australia and flying non-stop to Saudi Arabia for the coming winter season.
SINGAPORE- Singapore Airlines will be making network adjustments during the Northern Winter operating season (28 October 2012 – 30 March 2013), comprising capacity increases on several routes, reductions on others and seasonal aircraft changes.
The adjustments are in line with efforts to redeploy capacity to markets where demand is stronger.
On the good news side, Australia will see the launching of a fourth daily service to Perth, up from three flights per day as well as capacities increasing to Melbourne as the Airbus A380 superjumbo will be in service on two of the three daily flights, up from one. The change takes effect from 16 August and continues through the Northern Winter season. India will benefit of more Mumbai services with 21 weekly frequencies instead of 19 from the start of the Northern Winter season.
A daily Hong Kong flight which continues to San Francisco will be served with the A380 instead of the Boeing 777-300ER on a seasonal basis between 28 December 2012 and 24 March 2013. This will increase to two the number of Hong Kong flights served each day with the A380, while it will be the first time SIA will be operating the A380 to San Francisco.
Tokyo Narita will be served with two A380s each day instead of one. This will also be on a seasonal basis between 28 December and 24 March in place of B777-300ER services. The existing A380 service will continue to operate to Tokyo Narita and beyond to Los Angeles.
In the Gulf, the new Singapore-Riyadh-Jeddah flights will be operated three times per week, in place of existing services to Riyadh via Dubai and to Jeddah via Abu Dhabi. As previously announced, Abu Dhabi services will however be suspended from late October.
Europe will see a reduction in services, especially in the Southern part of the continent. After Thai Airways, Athens last direct service to Southeast Asia will be suspended with SIA closing the route at the end of October. Frequency to both Milan in Italy and Barcelona in Spain will be reduced to five times per week from seven. Singapore-Istanbul services will also be reduced to four flights per week from five. The Singapore-Frankfurt-New York A380 services will be switched to B777-300ER services on a seasonal basis between 27 December and 24 March.
However, frequencies to London Heathrow will increase to four flights per day from three.
Consolidated details of the changes in the Northern Winter schedule can be found in the tables below.
Singapore airlines frequency changes for northern winter schedule
(28 October 2012 – 30 march 2013)
|
Route |
New Frequency (per week) |
Current Frequency (per week) |
Effective |
|
Frequency increases/new routings: |
|||
|
Singapore – London |
28 |
21 |
28 Oct 2012 |
|
Singapore – Perth |
28 |
21 |
28 Oct 2012 |
|
Singapore – Mumbai |
21 |
19 |
28 Oct 2012 |
|
Singapore – Riyadh – Jeddah [2] |
3 |
3 |
28 Oct 2012 |
|
Frequency reductions/suspensions: |
|||
|
Singapore – Milan & Barcelona [3] |
5 |
7 |
28 Oct 2012 |
|
Singapore – Istanbul |
4 |
5 |
28 Oct 2012 |
|
Singapore – Athens |
0 |
3 |
28 Oct 2012 |
|
Singapore – Abu Dhabi |
0 |
3 |
28 Oct 2012 |
[1] Subject to regulatory approvals.
[2] Replaces Singapore-Dubai-Riyadh and Singapore-Abu Dhabi-Jeddah. Dubai will continue to be served with 10 flights per week, three of which will continue to Cairo
[3] Two flights will operate on a Singapore-Milan-Barcelona routing; the others will operate non-stop Singapore-Milan and Singapore-Barcelona
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
