SAS will no longer serve Singapore from April 1
SAS will no longer serve Singapore from April 1. The Scandinavian carrier currently operates the route six times a week using an A340-300 from Copenhagen via Bangkok. However, SAS' Copenhagen-Bangkok service will remain unchanged. It is only the onward sector between Bangkok and Singapore which is affected.
Says SAS President Lars Lindgren, "The reason for removing Singapore as a destination is that the Bangkok-Singapore leg has resulted in a considerable deficit for us. SAS has no plans to cancel other long-haul routes."
Routes between Europe and Asia are some of the most competitive in the world. Price competition is fierce and SAS is hampered by its high cost structure.
Many passengers disembark at Bangkok, and SAS would previously fill any empty seats (between Bangkok and Singapore) with locally joining passengers. SAS, in common with other European carriers plying this route such as Finnair and Swiss, would offer attractive fares seeing as they didn't have the market identity of local airlines Thai and SIA.
But that price weapon is no longer so attractive following the arrival of new budget carriers on this route. Thai Air Asia, Jetstar Asia and Tiger Airways are all competing against SAS on price.
SAS is a member of Star Alliance. It hopes to put a code-share arrangement in place (possibly with Thai or SIA who are also Star members) to provide its Singapore passengers with an easy connection in Bangkok and a through fare.
Otherwise, the main alternatives from Scandinavia to Singapore include SIA (who flies three times a week non-stop from Copenhagen) and Nordic airline Finnair via Helsinki. The latter takes the Great Circle route so passengers starting from Gothenburg, Oslo, Stockholm or Copenhagen need not backtrack. Finnair will increase its Helsinki-Singapore service from the current four flights a week to a daily frequency from May.
Other options include routings via hubs such as Frankfurt, Amsterdam, London Heathrow or Paris CDG.
For more information go to www.flysas.com
Report by Alex McWhirter
