Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Virgin Atlantic are discussing a partnership in Virgin's planned Australian airline.
"It's something we are considering as one of the options arising from our stake in Virgin Atlantic," says SIA. The Singapore carrier paid £600 million ($980 million) last December for a 49% stake in the UK carrier, and recently invited Virgin's chief executive of Australian operations, Brett Godfrey, to Singapore for a briefing on its Australian plans.
The Singaporean carrier declines to comment on Virgin statements that an agreement could be reached by the end of February. Low-cost "Virgin Australia" will begin operations by July, in time for the Sydney Olympic Games, with five Boeing 737-300s.
Meanwhile, SIA has suffered a setback in its efforts to win fifth freedom rights to operate from the UK to the USA, with the UK Government again refusing to grant the rights as long as bilateral air services talks with the USA remain unresolved.
SIA is considering codesharing with Virgin on North Atlantic routes, but still wants to establish "our own routes, with our own identity". The Singaporean carrier says UK airlines enjoy fifth freedom rights on services to Singapore, and SIA has sought reciprocal rights for 10 years.
Source: Flight International
