news, latest-news

Singapore Airlines reported decision to begin flying to and from Canberra could lead more carriers to offer international flights too, aviation experts say. Aviation experts also say Singapore Airlines would be the most "logical" airline to step into the Canberra market, amid reports the company may soon operate direct flights from Canberra to Singapore with a connecting flight to Wellington. While Singapore Airlines and the ACT Chief Minister's office have not confirmed the reports, they each stopped short of ruling it out, saying only there was nothing to announce "at this stage". The Australian Financial Review reports Singapore Airlines chief executive Goh Choon Phong is expected to announce the addition of the flights during a visit to Canberra next week. Four weekly flights using an Airbus A330 would run between Singapore and Canberra, with the same service used to run a return flight between Canberra and Wellington, it said. The ACT government, Canberra airport and local businesses have long lobbied for international flights and there has been occasional speculation about their introduction over the past 20 years. Despite making a case for international flights to Canberra to a number of airlines in the past, a spokesman from ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr's office said there was "nothing new to announce" "at this stage". Singapore Airlines said beyond its recently announced Singapore-Dusseldorf services in 2016, it "had no new route plans to announce at this stage". But aviation industry expert Hans Mitterlechner believes if one airline were to break the ice, others might be keen to test the waters. "There's a 'me-too' effect in aviation. If someone does it and the service is maintained for some time then the assumption would be for the others that this airline makes money. If that's the case, it's easy to prove the business case to a second and third airline to do this," he said. "On a small scale it happened in Toowoomba Airport. One airline put in services to Sydney about 13 months ago and now they're flying to Cairns and Melbourne. It proves the market to a certain degree. If Singapore Airlines were to fly to Canberra it would make a business case [for others]." And as an international carrier already operating five flights to Sydney a day, Mr Mitterlechner said Singapore Airline was the "most logical" one to dip a toe in. "For the local airlines one thing you'd have to remember is [Sydney] a very high yielding market and they don't want to destroy that, they want to keep it as it is and will not interfere with their own money making," he said. "For [Canberra's] international market development, it has to be a non-Australian [company] that goes in there. If someone is in in the first place, it might be easier to develop a more comprehensive proposition there." Aviation expert and journalist Ben Sandilands the information in the Financial Review report was "believed to be good". He said that provided more hotel accommodation became available, Canberra could become a "very attractive gateway to the China market". "It offers ample slots and has no jet curfew. Back of clock operations are often favoured by the tour operators that would be significant customers for new leisure flights from China and other parts of Asia," he wrote on his Crikey blog. Despite this, statements from both Air New Zealand and Qantas said there were no plans for the carriers to start operating international flights from the capital. A spokesman for Jetstar said while it was always assessing opportunities to grow its offering, it had no plans to launch international flights from Canberra at this stage. The ACT government, Canberra Airport and business groups have long been pushing to land international flights for Canberra. Canberra Airport's managing director Stephen Byron told Fairfax Media last year that if Canberra was good enough for IKEA, then it was good enough for carriers like Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines or Emirates to offer international flights. "People might say Canberra and Queanbeyan is only 420,000 [people] but they [IKEA] recognise two things – number one we are a catchment of 900,000 people and number two that we have good incomes," he said. "With that sized market they [the airlines] can recognise they can have a direct flight to Asia ... and also onward to Europe whether that's Frankfurt, London or Paris." Canberra Business Chamber chief executive Robyn Hendry said opening up international air access would have important ramifications for the Canberra economy, particularly from the Asian market. "We've long been interested in internationalising our city and part of that is having air access," she said. "There have been many conversations over time with the government and the airport with regards to the opportunities that may exist for these air services. Cases have been made. It wasn't made to only one particular airline, the opportunities were explored more broadly than that, so that has been ongoing." While playing down speculation, the Singapore Airlines spokesman said the company was keen to expand its Singapore hub. "We are continuously evaluating new route opportunities to provide additional travel options to our customers and to support the further development of the Singapore hub," he said.

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/8352f0bf-47c7-44c2-994b-2fe792eebf13/r0_133_2000_1263_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg