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Five years after Qantas abandoned Singapore as a hub in favour of Dubai, QF's A380 will return to Singapore as a stopover on the Kangaroo Route to London. From March next year, QF's flagship service, QF1/2 from Sydney to London, will stop over in Singapore on the way to and from LHR.
And one of QF's services to MEL will also be upgauged from an A330 to an A380.
These will be happy times for aviation enthusiasts in SIN, and Changi Airport too. It was quite a coup for DXB and Emirates, when QF decided to switch hubs from SIN to DXB 5 years ago. But many were unhappy with the switch. For whatever reason, passengers at both ends of the Kangaroo route were quite fond of Singapore as a stopover. After QF stopped using Singapore as a hub, BA's LHR-SIN-SYD service was one of BA's sectors highlighted as having one of the "most improved" load factors.
With the latest announcement, we will see QF's A380 in Singapore once again from March 2018. While QF (And EK) management may spin it differently, I personally see it as an admission that moving away from SIN to DXB was a mistake. Unless you have lounge access, the transit experience in DXB pales in comparison to SIN. And at least one friend of mine told me horror stories of delays and cancellations in DXB when sandstorms hit. You don't get a lot of those at Changi!
I for one am happy: this gives me a few more choices to get from SIN to MEL, SYD and LHR. I have been a fan of QF for a long time, and see them as a top notch, innovative airline, not to mention one with a superb safety record.
If I were SQ, I would be very wary of the competition that Qantas poses. While SQ has a wonderful offering across all classes, and a very loyal customer base, the reality of the matter, having flown both QF and SQ a lot over the years, is that Qantas has a very strong offering, particularly in Y and PEY. In particular, I have found that QF have been quite innovative in upgrading their hard product, to the point where the difference between SQ and QF is a lot smaller than what it used to be in the past.
Qantas' current flights from SIN to MEL and SYD are operated by Airbus A330's. While A330's are no longer the newest types around, these aircraft, configured for international flights, have been refreshed with a new business class product, and an economy class product which is either a brand new Y seat from Recaro, or a refurbished Y seat with updated upholstery and IFE.
I recently flew to Melbourne in Economy on Qantas for a week long work trip, where I stayed at the Westin Melbourne.
While this was a hectic business trip, I managed to take a little time off to have dinner at a small Spanish tapas/wine bar in Melbourne with SQTalk regulars Kyo and SQ228, go for a long run along the Yarra River, and also revisit one of my favourite restaurants, Neil Perry's Rockpool Bar and Grill, for a very memorable steak dinner.
Interested? Read on!
And one of QF's services to MEL will also be upgauged from an A330 to an A380.
These will be happy times for aviation enthusiasts in SIN, and Changi Airport too. It was quite a coup for DXB and Emirates, when QF decided to switch hubs from SIN to DXB 5 years ago. But many were unhappy with the switch. For whatever reason, passengers at both ends of the Kangaroo route were quite fond of Singapore as a stopover. After QF stopped using Singapore as a hub, BA's LHR-SIN-SYD service was one of BA's sectors highlighted as having one of the "most improved" load factors.
With the latest announcement, we will see QF's A380 in Singapore once again from March 2018. While QF (And EK) management may spin it differently, I personally see it as an admission that moving away from SIN to DXB was a mistake. Unless you have lounge access, the transit experience in DXB pales in comparison to SIN. And at least one friend of mine told me horror stories of delays and cancellations in DXB when sandstorms hit. You don't get a lot of those at Changi!
I for one am happy: this gives me a few more choices to get from SIN to MEL, SYD and LHR. I have been a fan of QF for a long time, and see them as a top notch, innovative airline, not to mention one with a superb safety record.
If I were SQ, I would be very wary of the competition that Qantas poses. While SQ has a wonderful offering across all classes, and a very loyal customer base, the reality of the matter, having flown both QF and SQ a lot over the years, is that Qantas has a very strong offering, particularly in Y and PEY. In particular, I have found that QF have been quite innovative in upgrading their hard product, to the point where the difference between SQ and QF is a lot smaller than what it used to be in the past.
Qantas' current flights from SIN to MEL and SYD are operated by Airbus A330's. While A330's are no longer the newest types around, these aircraft, configured for international flights, have been refreshed with a new business class product, and an economy class product which is either a brand new Y seat from Recaro, or a refurbished Y seat with updated upholstery and IFE.
I recently flew to Melbourne in Economy on Qantas for a week long work trip, where I stayed at the Westin Melbourne.
While this was a hectic business trip, I managed to take a little time off to have dinner at a small Spanish tapas/wine bar in Melbourne with SQTalk regulars Kyo and SQ228, go for a long run along the Yarra River, and also revisit one of my favourite restaurants, Neil Perry's Rockpool Bar and Grill, for a very memorable steak dinner.
Interested? Read on!
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