The 11% reduction in capacity announced by Singapore Airlines yesterday for the period April 2009 – March 2010 will mean suspensions of flights on a range of routes, and use of smaller aircraft on others.
A number of changes have already been announced and some effected, including the withdrawal of service to Amritsar (from Feb 09) and Vancouver (from Apr 09), lower frequency of flights to India, as well as a cutback on the non-stop flights between Singapore and the USA.
On the Australia routes, the frequency of service to Sydney will reduce to three times daily till July.
To the UK, London’s three times daily service will be maintained. However, the daily B747-400 service will be replaced with a B777-300ER from end-March, resulting in a seat count reduction of 97 (-7.5%) a day. Flights to Manchester will be at three times weekly from May, down from the present five-weekly.
Service to Seoul will be reduced to twice-daily (from its already-reduced schedule of 17 times weekly). One flight will continue on to San Francisco.
To Japan, the Singapore-Bangkok-Tokyo service will reduce from six to five flights per week.
Services to China will also change. Flights to Beijing will decrease from 21 to 17 weekly. Guangzhou and Nanjing services will reduce to five and two per week respectively.
In West Asia, aside from already announced changes affecting Indian ngateways, Colombo and Male will each be served by five flights per week, down from seven.
Other routes, such as Brisbane, Perth, Fukuoka, Nagoya and Rome will now be operated with variable frequencies depending on the season.
A detailed table showing route and frequency changes is attached. The drop in demand owing to the global economic slowdown is the driver of the reduction in capacity. Going forward, Singapore Airlines will continue to monitor demand patterns and will make changes to its network when necessary.
