Singapore Airlines (SIA) says it is responding to signs of a traffic recovery by restoring some reduced or suspended services from March.
Since September it had been slashing routes and frequencies, cutting salaries, laying off trainees, and deferring aircraft deliveries to avoid posting its first-ever full-year loss.
On 10 March Frankfurt services will increase by one a week to 12 weekly flights, but this is still below the twice-daily operation it operated before September. New York via Amsterdam will return to four flights a week from today's three starting on 19 March. Los Angeles via Tokyo becomes daily again, up from five a week, on 31 March. Los Angeles via Taipei has just resumed daily service, having been reduced to five a week. Suspended services to Chicago via Amsterdam are expected to return on 1 May.
Strong demand on China routes means increases to Shanghai using Boeing 777s, and two of the daily Airbus A310s to Guangzhou are to be replaced with 777s from 31 March. On 31 March Osaka via Bangkok will return to daily, from five a week now. The Denpasar (Bali) tourist destination in Indonesia will see frequencies increase from 25 to 28 weekly.
There will be a third weekly Hiroshima service from 28 April, after the prefecture government and local tourism industry agreed to help stimulate demand, but it will still not return to the original four times weekly service.
Source: Flight International
