Singapore Airlines (SQ) to Quit Pakistan!

[KHI747]

I have been forecasting this for several months as i couldnt see how a premium airline like SQ would remain interested in serving Pakistan with fewer and fewer people visiting,traditionally low yields further ruined by constant devaluation of the rupee.

Sadly the worst has been confirmed and Singapore Airlines will operate its last flight to KHI and LHE on the 17th of Feb 2010.Following is an extract from the press release.

SINGAPORE AIRLINES TO MAKE CAPACITY ADJUSTMENTS

Singapore Airlines is to make changes to its route network in the coming months that will include frequency increases on several routes. The changes will also include the suspension of operations to Pakistan as well as Nanjing in China.
Changes will begin to be seen from this month, when Singapore-Moscow-Houston flight frequency will increase to five per week from four, effective 18 December.
From 19 January 2010, non-stop Singapore-Newark flights will return to daily operations from the current five-times-weekly.
As already announced, Munich will be a new destination in the SIA network from the start of the northern summer schedule late in March 2010. Flights will operate five times per week on a Singapore-Munich-Manchester routing. Manchester services will be increased to five-times-weekly from thrice-weekly as a result.
Also from the start of the summer season in 2010, Colombo and Dhaka will each be served daily, up from five flights per week.
Frequency to Mumbai and Delhi will meanwhile be increased from March and June 2010, respectively. Flights will be operated twice-daily to both Indian cities, up from the existing 11-times-weekly.
Services to Seoul will also increase from June 2010, to 18-times-weekly from 14-times-weekly. One of the daily flights carries on to San Francisco.

In addition, as previously announced SIA will begin serving Tokyo Haneda airport with two daily flights from the end of October 2010, complementing the existing twice-daily flights to Tokyo Narita, one of which continues on to Los Angeles.
The difficult decision has meanwhile been taken to suspend twice-weekly operations to Pakistan and Nanjing. The last Singapore-Karachi-Lahore service will
be operated on 17 February 2010 while the last Singapore-Nanjing service will be operated on 26 March 2010. These suspensions are regrettable but are necessary as a result of the performance of the two routes. SIA will be assisting affected customers in making alternative travel arrangements.
Frequency will also be reduced in other areas of the network. From January 2010, Ho Chi Minh City will be served 14 times per week instead of 18 times while Kuala Lumpur will be served 17 times per week rather than 24. However overall SIA Group flight frequency on the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur route will remain unchanged at 54 per week as SilkAir will be taking over the operation of one of SIA’s daily services.

Following is a direct link to the press release posted on the website of Singapore Stock Exchange. (http://www.sgc.com)
http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/ ... penelement

While its a sad day for Pakistani aviation,im sure folks at PIA and CAA must be celebrating that they have 1 fewer airline to worry about.I wonder if SQ got the notice from CAA as to how "old and uncomfortable" their B777's are and how dare they send their regional product and not the flagship product to KHI and LHE!

[baberblues]

Its a shame to see this

[Zulfiqar]

Very sad indeed, however, the Senate Standing Committee on Defence and Defence Production will be happy to see the back of a foreign airline using old and uncomfortable aircrafts!

I wonder if the routing has been an issue for passengers traveling for example to SE asia / Austrailia (or even west coast USA) who may prefer a more direct routing like that of Thai. CX probably does well (despite stopping in BKK) as there are more Pakistani going to HK (and USA).

Z

[sheeraz]

This was expected and I am surprised another premium airline Cathay Pacific has not pulled out of Pakistan. However, I am sure it is a matter of time and they will leave too. This will leave Emirates the only premium airline serving Pakistan.

This is indeed shameful but folks this gets back to my argument few days back that aviation in Pakistan is doomed just the like rest of the country. You may remeber Lufthansa started service to Pakistan in 2007 but pulled out again in only few months while using outdated A 300.

[Jacobin777]

I'm surprised SQ didn't decide to use their new A333's for this particular route. Those are 2-classed planes used for "regional routes". Maybe they'll start later. Regardless, its a shame to see yet another carrier leave.

That being said, I still think BA can serve ISB and/or KHI from LHR.

[imiakhtar]

That being said, I still think BA can serve ISB and/or KHI from LHR

Can yes, but according to their S-E Asia sales representative, until the security situation improves, they won't.

Shame really, the LHR-ISB trips would have given me the ideal excuse to fly their 747/772.

Regards

[atmalik]

thats too bad. I was looking forward to flying SIA some times in the future to LHE. I guess will have to look for other alternatives now.....

[Abbas Ali]

Looks like low passenger loads are forcing Singapore Airlines to suspend Pakistan operations.

Or do Singapore Airlines crew have security concerns forcing the airline to suspend operations ?

Btw, does Singapore Airlines crew stay in Karachi or Lahore ?

Abbas

[Rashid]

Singapore Airlines is making following capacity adjustments for 2010. Highlights as follows:

SUSPENSIONS
2 weekly Singapore – Karachi – Lahore – Singapore eff 17FEB10
2 weekly Singapore – Nanjing eff 27MAR10

INCREASES
Singapore – Newark From 5 to 7 weekly eff 19JAN10
Singapore – Mumbai From 11 to 14 weekly eff Mar 10
Singapore – Colombo From 5 to 7 weekly eff 27MAR10
Singapore – Dhaka From 5 to 7 weekly eff 27MAR10
Singapore – Delhi From 11 to 14 weekly eff Jun 10
Singapore – Seoul From 14 to 18 weekly eff Jun 10

REDUCTIONS
Singapore – Ho Chi Minh City Reduce from 18 to 14 weekly eff Jan 10
Singapore – Kuala Lumpur Additional 1 Daily flight transfer to SilkAir from Jan 10

[Moin]

Well now those semi-educated morons within the CAA and DM can pat each other on the back for a job well done. Complete and utter isolation is what they want and will get the way they're carrying on.

There are still 3 5 star airlines operating here being Qatar, CX and MAS. It was quite surprising that before we actually had 4 of the 6 5 star airlines flying here. Now its just one less.

[PK757]

SQ did this once before in the late 90s and resumed later....hopefully we will see better times ahead , a more stable political scenario and The likes Of BA,LH AND SQ will return.
could anyone point out as to why they suspended operation to Pakistan...maybe it was due to low loads as TG has a monoply on the PAK-FAR EAST sectors???...

[kashan]

I feel Cathay will eventually transfer KHI to Dragonair.

[KHI747]

Looks like low passenger loads are forcing Singapore Airlines to suspend Pakistan operations.

Or do Singapore Airlines crew have security concerns forcing the airline to suspend operations ?

Btw, does Singapore Airlines crew stay in Karachi or Lahore ?

Abbas

Surely SQ made this move based on the performance of this route.Remember SQ is a premium and expensive airline,probably last market they can do well is Pakistan because of the low premium traffic and some of the lowest yields in the world.Had they been dropping the routes due to security,they would not have waited until Feb 2010 and would have done it immediately as did BA last year in the case of ISB.

SQ did this once before in the late 90s and resumed later....hopefully we will see better times ahead , a more stable political scenario and The likes Of BA,LH AND SQ will return.
could anyone point out as to why they suspended operation to Pakistan...maybe it was due to low loads as TG has a monoply on the PAK-FAR EAST sectors???...

Though you are right that SQ axed KHI and then resumed few years back with the triangular flights featuring LHE and KHI,i wouldnt keep my hopes up as far as seeing them again is concerned.Airlines such as LH and SQ which gave Pakistan second chances yet had to pack up again will require nothing short of miracle to resume.Its not like the routes were strong performers that the airlines would even consider them given the obvious risks involved in present day Pakistan.

You see KHI is currently served by these East Asian airlines : TG,CX,MH,SQ and CA - outside of the GCC,KHI doesnt see such a high concentration of airlines from any other region.Even though none of the flights from all those airlines are dedicated KHI services (barring TG's Saturday flight) its just not a big enough pie for all these airlines to commercially justify operations.Needless to say the recent terror wave in Pakistan has further reduced traffic therefore the exit of foreign airlines was imminent.

I'm surprised SQ didn't decide to use their new A333's for this particular route. Those are 2-classed planes used for "regional routes". Maybe they'll start later. Regardless, its a shame to see yet another carrier leave.

That being said, I still think BA can serve ISB and/or KHI from LHR.

Jocobin777 if you recall we had discussion on A.net several months ago and i predicted that i see foreign airlines pulling out and SQ to be among the first.I respect your opinion about a possible BA service to PK but i sure dont agree with it.I dont think there is any chance for it.

Well now those semi-educated morons within the CAA and DM can pat each other on the back for a job well done. Complete and utter isolation is what they want and will get the way they're carrying on.

There are still 3 5 star airlines operating here being Qatar, CX and MAS. It was quite surprising that before we actually had 4 of the 6 5 star airlines flying here. Now its just one less.

While i completely see what you mean Moin,but to be fair i dont think CAA's attitude had much to do with SQ withdrawing in this case.If a route is performing well airlines will put up with alot to stay in the market.You can use examples of European airlines in African cities such as ACC and LOS.The fact is that the route was performing badly based on Load Factors and Yields and even if CAA suddenly adopted a progressive attitude,it would not have made much of a difference to their desicion.

[Jacobin777]

That being said, I still think BA can serve ISB and/or KHI from LHR

Can yes, but according to their S-E Asia sales representative, until the security situation improves, they won't.

Shame really, the LHR-ISB trips would have given me the ideal excuse to fly their 747/772.

Regards

I do agree on that.... Pakistan needs to improve its political and/or security situation before we really see more carriers again. Such a shame - the days of yore when I flew Swiss Air, Lufthansa, Air France, KLM, BOAC and even Pan Am to Pakistan.

I'm surprised SQ didn't decide to use their new A333's for this particular route. Those are 2-classed planes used for "regional routes". Maybe they'll start later. Regardless, its a shame to see yet another carrier leave.

That being said, I still think BA can serve ISB and/or KHI from LHR.

Jocobin777 if you recall we had discussion on A.net several months ago and i predicted that i see foreign airlines pulling out and SQ to be among the first.I respect your opinion about a possible BA service to PK but i sure dont agree with it.I dont think there is any chance for it.

I don't disagree with your comment one bit. Again, most has to do with the current situation in Pakistan. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised to see maybe 1-2 more pull out of Pakistan. Cathay (or Dragonair as mentioned above) might be the "last man standing" when it comes to other carriers. MAS seems to be holding its own.

Of course, maybe if everyone stops supporting carries such as EK, EY and QR long haul we can see these other carriers thrive.

Personally, I fly EK to DXB only as PK doesn't have good connection timings with BA into/out of DXB. I no longer fly EK long-haul and I don't fly either EY or QR.
If I were to fly the aforementioned carriers, it would be for short-haul only (like EK).

[kashan]

But SQ are serving Dhaka and Colombo too, not premium airline markets, and Sri Lanka had trouble with the Tamil issue for years, which affected tourism and business, even Etihad had to suspend the route at the same time SQ continued flying there uninterrupted.