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Singapore Airlines Group recalibrates route networks of its carriers
November 20th 2020
Singapore Airlines (SIA) announced this week it would shift a number of routes between its LCC and its full-service carriers following a network review. Read More »
The group’s LCC, Scoot, will temporarily suspend nonstop flights from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Perth while Singapore Airlines and SilkAir will increase frequencies to the three destinations, the company said.
Scoot's Kuala Lumpur service ended this week. The Manila and Perth routes will switch over in the first week of December.
SIA and SilkAir will stop flying to Penang from December 8, Surabaya from December 9 and Taipei from December 16. Scoot will serve these routes with higher frequencies.
"The adjustment of services between SIA, SilkAir and Scoot are the result of a detailed review to determine airlines in the SIA group portfolio best suited to meet evolving customer and cargo demand," the company said on its website.
"The SIA group continues to grow its passenger capacity and resume selected services in a safe and calibrated manner. This is partly driven by recent moves to ease restrictions on both transit and inbound passengers in a safe and gradual manner, helping to support an increase in travel demand.”
Earlier this month, SIA resumed nonstop flights from Singapore to the U.S. with three times a week flights to New York JFK. Bandar Seri Begawan and Fukuoka also returned to the network this month, with Nagoya and San Francisco to be added in December.
Scoot's once weekly Singapore-Melbourne route will increase to daily from December 1. The LCC also is resuming nonstop flights from Singapore to Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City, while Clark, Kaohsiung and Osaka Kansai are temporarily suspended due to weak demand.
SilkAir is scheduled to commence services to Male in December.
As a result of the network changes, the group expected to reach 19% of pre-COVID-19 capacity by the end of January 2021, up from its previous estimate of 16%.
There were some "early signs of optimism about a recovery in air travel", it said, and referenced the recent positive developments in COVID-19 testing and potential vaccines.
"Capacity increases are underpinned by continued strong demand for air cargo around the world with available freight space remaining constrained compared with pre-COVID-19 levels,” the group said.
In other SIA news, IBS Software said this week the airline group had chosen its iCargo software as a service (SaaS) based cargo management solution to replace its existing air cargo system, which covered sales, import and export operations, air mail handling and revenue accounting.
"We greatly value the trust Singapore Airlines has placed in us. I am looking forward to our teams jointly developing the next generation of the air cargo ecosystem for their customers and partners,” IBS Software senior vice president and regional head of Asia-Pacific, Gautam Shekar, said.
SIA senior vice president for cargo, Chin Yau Seng, said the coronavirus pandemic had accelerated the need for change, especially digitalisation in the sector.
