Singapore air to move fast when NZ opens up

Airline ready to cater for pent-up demand as soon as border restrictions allow

Singapore Airlines has maintained a constant presence throughout the pandemic in New Zealand and wants to rebuild quickly when border restrictions allow and demand returns.

The airline has been flying to this country for 45 years and during the pandemic has kept at least daily flights of passengers and cargo between Singapore and Auckland and Christchurch. It is the most frequent overseas-owned flyer operating services into the cities.

New general manager for New Zealand, George Robertson, said while passenger numbers have dropped to double digits on some of the 250-seat Airbus A350 planes it has operated, freight has been a big part of the equation.

Depending on the cargo, the aircraft can carry up to 42 tonnes of freight and among imports has been 14 shipments or 1.6 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine.

Other airlines have paused operations and there are doubts whether some will return but Robertson said maintaining Singapore Airlines’ operations here was a demonstration of its commitment to New Zealand.

“I think it’s a tremendously important market especially given our joint venture with Air New Zealand.”

While the spread of Omicron just prior to Christmas prompted Singapore to close off its quarantine-free travel lanes with other countries resulting in a pause in ticket sales for those flights, the airline had been rebuilding strongly before the new variant struck.

While it is uncertain how it will affect air travel in 2022, Singapore Airlines had been paring back losses as it restored a big chunk of its international network in the last quarter of the year. It is fully reliant for revenue on international flights as it has no domestic market.

Speaking before the Government about-turn on allowing Kiwis to skip MIQ, Robertson said that throughout the pandemic his airline had worked closely with authorities. “We’ve had a good constructive engagement with the New Zealand authorities over the past six to nine months. We look forward to this phased, calibrated reconnecting of New Zealand.”

The New Zealand Government has during the pandemic allocated more than $760 million to airlines through its air freight support schemes, but Singapore Airlines has not been part of them. The longer that New Zealand’s borders remain closed to all but essential passengers, the more likely it is that the scheme will be lengthened.

Robertson said if the scheme was extended beyond March 2022 he would like his airline — which also runs dedicated freighters into New Zealand — to be a part of it.

“I would be very happy if there is a window to look at that. That’s something that we would be keen to look at all the options.”

Pre-pandemic Singapore Airlines with Air NZ operated up to three times a day to New Zealand, including using the popular Airbus A380 on the Singapore-Auckland route during the summer peak.

Robertson said the A350 was an ideal aircraft for the New Zealand market at the moment, given lighter passenger loads and its cargo capacity. While it is scrapping some of its A380s others had been brought back from storage more quickly than expected and were operating in the SingaporeSydney route.

Just like frequency, bringing the double-decker planes would be in the mix to return when market demand warranted.

“Let’s watch the space,” said Robertson, who has worked for the airline for 13 years. From the border relaxation and reopening we will be looking to increase capacity both from Auckland and Christchurch, basically from the get-go. I think that also mirrors the nimbleness across some of the other international markets that we’ve tried to increase capacity as quickly as possible to help that kind of pent-up demand and to reunite families across the world.”

As it had experienced in other markets, pent-up demand was apparent in New Zealand. When the now paused relaxation in border rules was announced, bookings surged as Kiwis who had saved up during the last two years started to look at holidays overseas.

“We want to give our customers the confidence to travel again so at the time of changes in border settings we do want to make sure we do have good offers in place and promotional activities to really attract people to fly again.”

Airfares during the pandemic had generally played by the law of economics — they followed the relationship between supply and demand.

Robertson said his airline wanted to make sure it offered a competitively priced product and a growing network.

From Singapore it was now flying its new-generation Boeing 737 aircraft, fitted out with widebody-style business class, and this would prove popular with Kiwis flying within Asia.

Robertson said travellers would return in stages with essential reunification first, then less urgent family and friends flying, holidaymakers and then corporate travellers.

Singapore Airlines’ premium cabins and services are a big part of its proposition and there were early signs of a change in the profile of demand for the front of the plane. More leisure travellers were looking for luxury and space.

“We think that our business class product having the one-to-one configuration, having more personal space is well suited to those passengers who would really value that kind of privacy and a bit more distance on the aircraft,” said Robertson.