SQ Lobbies HKG-NYC

[Nick C]

Looks like SQ wants a piece of the pie too.

SCMP

[TerryK]

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[Nick C]

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[vincent0720]

oooo, so SIA might fly SIN-HKG-NYC? if the HK Government grant the rights to fly

[Kyo]

Are we using bugmenot to get past the subscription issue, or could someone be kind enough to copy/paste it here?

[Nick C]

Article

FB Business, Technology
SIA lobbies for HK-New York fifth-freedom rights
Charlotte So
536 words
16 September 2008
South China Morning Post
3
English
(c) 2008 South China Morning Post Publishers Limited, Hong Kong. All rights reserved.

Singapore Airlines is lobbying the Hong Kong government for the right to fly from its home base through Hong Kong to New York because it believes the route is under-served and overpriced.

Only Cathay Pacific Airways and Continental Airlines serve the Hong Kong-New York route, between them providing three daily non-stop services.

In contrast, the Hong Kong-London route is served by five airlines offering 13 direct flights a day.

The Singapore government is lobbying for "fly beyond" or so-called "fifth freedom" rights on the route.

"Hong Kong and New York are two global financial centres. Connecting flights should offer the maximum convenience, competition and choice to passengers," the general manager of SIA in Hong Kong, Campbell Wilson, said last week. "We feel the market is under-served. When you compare the Hong Kong-London fare with Hong Kong-New York, the price to fly to London is much lower."

Cathay said it provided more than enough capacity on the route. "There is still plenty of space left in the front end on the flights, with average first-class loads this year in the low 50s and average business-class loads in the mid-60s," a Cathay spokesman said.

Continental Air country director of Hong Kong Wyn Li said the airline would consider adding more flights when demand was stronger.

SIA said it had no intention of undercutting fares if it was granted rights to fly on to New York, adding that new capacity would lift demand.

The extra competition would bring prices down and create benefits for passengers as well as the Hong Kong economy, Mr Wilson said.

The cheapest two-way ticket (tax and surcharges excluded) between Hong Kong and New York is HK$7,500 offered by Continental Airlines. The lowest price offered by Cathay is HK$10,000.

A round-trip ticket from Hong Kong to London, however, costs as little as HK$5,150 on Virgin Atlantic Airways and HK$6,050 on Cathay.

The flight time from Hong Kong to New York is three hours longer than the London service, but analysts say this alone cannot explain the price difference.

"I think Singapore Airlines has a strong argument on the route," said Damien Horth, a transport analyst at UBS, adding that the carriers could not add direct flights to the route because of a lack of long-haul aircraft.

Only certain aircraft can fly non-stop between Hong Kong and New York, such as the Boeing 777-300 ER, or the B777-200 ER.

SIA has several ultra-long-haul aircraft, with 18 B777-300 ERs in its fleet and another arriving next year.

Cathay has eight B777-300 ERs with 22 more to come by 2012 while Continental has 20 B777-200 ERs and eight more on order.

Whether SIA secures the right to serve the Hong Kong to New York route now lies in the hands of the Hong Kong government.

"We are prepared to consider any pragmatic proposal from the Singaporean side that could satisfy the market needs of both sides," said a spokesman at the Economic Development Bureau.

[SQTalker]

What will be the possible aircraft types to serve the segment of HKG<=>JFK/EWR...?

77W / 345 ...?
744 / 380 certainly can't make it.

Really like to see if SQ can successfully get the rights to land @ JFK so that SQ can make it truly a "Round The World" map.

Unlike nowadays, the EWR & JFK aren't really next to each other.

[StarG]

What will be the possible aircraft types to serve the segment of HKG<=>JFK/EWR...?

77W / 345 ...?
744 / 380 certainly can't make it.

Cathay flies 77W on this route so maybe SQ can fly their 77W as well?

[jjpb3]

Verrry interesting. I wonder if the Singapore request is more attractive now that demand should slump a bit because of the turmoil in the financial services industry.

[ycp81]

I guess if SQ gets the right to fly SIN-HKG-JFK, they may drop FRA-JFK since the loads and yields for that sector is not doing too well. SQ is usually the cheapest airline on the FRA-JFK route as it do not have the frequencies to compete with LH and the other US airlines.

[zxcvbn]

If the route does get the green light
Will SQ extend one of its 5 HKG turnaround flights (excluding SQ1,2), or will it create a 7th daily flight to HKG?

[nykelaz]

If the route does get the green light
Will SQ extend one of its 5 HKG turnaround flights (excluding SQ1,2), or will it create a 7th daily flight to HKG?

I think it would be good if they had a flight out at around 6ish in the morning and arrive at around 10ish. I wonder why it is only served by UA.

[zvezda]

The only aircraft that SQ actually have which would make sense for SIN-HKG-JFK are the 777-300ER and -- if reconfigured with the new seats -- the 777-200ER.

I agree with ycp81 that it would make sense for SQ to drop FRA-JFK if they get HKG-JFK. That would allow SQ to upgauge SIN-FRA to WhaleJet service without wasting a WhaleJet on FRA-JFK. Note that SIN-HKG-JFK is 586 miles shorter than SIN-FRA-JFK.

I'm still hoping that SQ exercise their 777-300ER options at lower than originally contracted prices to compensate for the 787-9 delays.

[vincent0720]

great, hope SQ will do this. Because it makes sense.
PS.I kind of learn some economics on these various discussion

[huaiwei]

I had the impression that the HK govt has not been a major proponent of open skies, insisting that all benefits should be reciprocal? Has Singapore anything else to offer them?