Singapore Airlines (SIA) will launch nonstop service to San Francisco later this year, resuming nonstop service to the USA after a three year hiatus.
The Star Alliance carrier will also suspend flights to Sao Paulo citing weak demand on the route, joining other foreign carriers that are dropping service to Brazil.
SIA will begin daily Singapore-San Francisco flights with Airbus A350-900s from 23 October. It currently serves San Francisco twice daily via Hong Kong and Seoul.
With the launch of the nonstop service, SIA will re-route the Seoul connection to Los Angeles-Seoul-Singapore service. This will result in the airline serving Los Angeles twice daily. SIA now operates to the city via Tokyo Narita.
SIA will compete against United Airlines on the nonstop Singapore-San Francisco route. United, a fellow Star member, began flights in June.
"Our customers have been asking us to offer more US services and we are pleased to be able to do so. With new non-stop San Francisco flights and the increase in frequency to Los Angeles, customers will have two flights to choose from each day to both of these popular US West Coast destinations," says SIA's senior vice-president of marketing and planning Lee Wen Fen.
The carrier had operated nonstop US flights to Newark Liberty and Los Angeles up until 2013, when it dropped the flights after selling its Airbus A340-500s. SIA has plans to restart nonstop flights to New York and Los Angeles when it takes delivery of longer range A350-900ULRs.
Separately, the airline says it will suspend flights to Sao Paulo Guarulhos due to "sustained weak performance" on the route. The airline will operate its last Sao Paulo flight on 20 October. It now serves the Brazilian city via Barcelona, which it will continue to serve.
SIA's exit from Sao Paulo follows in the footsteps of other foreign carriers cutting service to Brazil, as macroeconomic conditions in the country remain poor. Korean Air is dropping its Sao Paulo flights in September, while Air France is withdrawing from Brasilia that same month.
With SIA no longer serving Sao Paulo, LATAM Airlines Brazil will be the only carrier operating nonstop between Barcelona and Sao Paulo, schedules in Innovata show.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
