What happened to Singapore Airlines LHE/KHI Plans?

ord · Post by **ord** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:26 am

According to Singapore Airlines website, they issued a press release on November 11, 2005, they were to begin service to KHI and LHE starting February 1, 2006. So what has happened to their plans? Is it postponed to start of the summer scheduale or have they shelved their plans to serve this route, in the near future?

SIA Corporate Press Release

http://www.singaporeair.com/saa/en_UK/c ... E_6405.jsp

News Releases
Singapore Airlines To Fly To Pakistan
24 November 2005

Singapore Airlines will restart a three-times-weekly service to the cities of Karachi and Lahore, in Pakistan, from 1 February 2006.

Flights will depart Singapore on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday of each week, at 1535 hours and operate a circular routing to both Karachi and Lahore.

......................

Singapore Airlines service to Pakistan will support further growth in the bilateral trade relationship between Singapore and Pakistan by facilitating more commercial and tourism inflows into the country. In addition, it will open an important route between other countries in the South-East Asia, South-West Pacific and North America regions and Pakistan, through the Singapore Changi Airport hub.

Karachi is the financial and commercial hub of Pakistan and accounts for more than 60% of PakistanÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s Gross Domestic Product. It is a centre of business in the region, and also the home to several major institutions for higher learning.

Lahore, capital of the province of Punjab, is a city known for its cultural capital, which is apparent from the numerous historic buildings endowed with architectural and scenic beauty.

A very old city, Lahore was part of the Mughal dynasty, which ruled over vast tracks of the Indian sub-continent.

ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œSingapore Airlines is confident that our flights to Karachi and Lahore will facilitate the growth of trade, investments and tourism between Singapore and Pakistan. In addition, we believe that the inclusion of Pakistan to our extensive route network further enhances PakistanÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s linkage to the rest of the world.ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â Said Mr Huang Cheng Eng, Singapore AirlinesÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ Executive Vice President Marketing and the Regions.

malpensa26 · Post by **malpensa26** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:13 am

i was wondering the same thing?

AP-BGL · Post by **AP-BGL** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 7:25 am

I think they have started the flights, I was in Lahore Airport on Feb 5th as my friend was leaving for Sydney by Thair Air, the flight information board was giving the the flight schedule of Singapore Airlines to land in Lahore that day. Doesn't it mean the flights have been started?

PK777 · Post by **PK777** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 2:27 pm

Flights have already started using B772ER

ord · Post by **ord** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 8:19 pm

AP-BGL wrote:I think they have started the flights, I was in Lahore Airport on Feb 5th as my friend was leaving for Sydney by Thair Air, the flight information board was giving the the flight schedule of Singapore Airlines to land in Lahore that day. Doesn't it mean the flights have been started?

PK777 wrote:Flights have already started using B772ER

Then how come LHE and KHI are not listed in their flight scheduales. Go to the website and see for yourself:

http://www.singaporeair.com/saa/en_UK/index.jsp

sadiqhassan · Post by **sadiqhassan** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 8:35 pm

ord wrote:
AP-BGL wrote:I think they have started the flights, I was in Lahore Airport on Feb 5th as my friend was leaving for Sydney by Thair Air, the flight information board was giving the the flight schedule of Singapore Airlines to land in Lahore that day. Doesn't it mean the flights have been started?

PK777 wrote:Flights have already started using B772ER
Then how come LHE and KHI are not listed in their flight scheduales. Go to the website and see for yourself:

http://www.singaporeair.com/saa/en_UK/index.jsp

Maybe they forgot to update it?

Flights are showing in Sabre

eg:

[Sabre: ITN/AXP]

SIN Singapore Changi SG [WSSS]
KHI Karachi Quaid-E-Azam Int'l PK [OPKC]
WED 29 Mar 2006

SQ 460 SIN 15:35 KHI 18:50 772 0 F4 P4 A4 Z4 C4 J4 D4 Y9 W9 Q9 N9 V9 K0 L9

HokutoNoKen · Post by **HokutoNoKen** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 9:05 pm

it also confirms it on their interactive route map stating 1 feb start in brackets.

PK777 · Post by **PK777** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 9:06 pm

Exactly i was having a look at the scedules on the KHI/LHE websites afew weeks ago and they showed flights to Singapore SQ-460 to singapore.

ord · Post by **ord** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 5:58 am

Thanks for the replies. Perhaps I will email their webmaster when I get some free time, as this might affect their business somewhat. LHE and KHI have both become strongholds for Thai Airways in recent years and it shall be interesting to see if SQ can break in to this market. It should be noted that TG are themselves part owned by SQ.

smarties · Post by **smarties** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 11:36 am

MH seems to be doing good on their routes also. I forgot that they come to karachi. I was at Karachi airport the other day and saw their plane standing there...i'm sure they have good onward connections to AUSTRALIA and AMERICA.

behramjee · Post by **behramjee** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 2:58 pm

MH in KHI does very well with O&D + as you say 6th freedom to LAX and SYD/MEL/AKL.

But most of all the O&D loads on their flights account for over 50%!!!

ord · Post by **ord** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 5:21 pm

behramjee wrote:MH in KHI does very well with O&D + as you say 6th freedom to LAX and SYD/MEL/AKL.

But most of all the O&D loads on their flights account for over 50%!!!

Then I guess the yields must be quite high for KUL! Airblue should seriously look at LHE-KUL and KHI-KUL as soon as they get some widebodies.

Ofcourse now with SQ in the mix, they can always take pax LHE/KHI-SIN and send them to Malaysia via their large Silk Air network, which serves quite a few places in Malaysia in addition to mainline service to KUL and Penang.