Singapore Airlines chops flights to Pakistan, Nanjing

Singapore Airlines announced various changes to its route network in upcoming months, including cutting its Pakistan and Nanjing flights.

Changes will begin to be seen from this month, when Singapore-Moscow-Houston flight frequency will increase to five per week from four, starting 18 December. From 19 January 2010, non-stop Singapore-Newark flights will resume daily operations from the current five-times-weekly.

Their new flight to Munich earlier announced is also part of the changes. 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.

Meanwhile, the axe has been put to their twice-weekly flights 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 regions. 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.

In a release to the media, SIA said: “Positive signs of a recovery in demand continue to be seen but operating conditions remain challenging and yields in particular remain under pressure. SIA will continue to carefully match capacity to demand across the network and customers will be informed at the earliest opportunity where changes are made.”