Singapore Airlines Industry in Crush
Like other Airlines, Singapore Airlines (SIA) is also fall in economic travel as it is cutting above 200 flights to China, Australia, Europe and India in response to falling, dramatically, passenger numbers. Last Friday the company and travel agents said faced with the overall economic slowdown, the authority informed travel agents the recent week that 214 flights would be cut between now and March. Agents said flights could be cut to Hong Kong, Mumbai, New Delhi, Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, Shanghai, Guangzhou, London and Zurich.
Company spokesman Stephen Forshaw said “We don’t want to be flying half-empty planes around the world any longer than we have to, because it increases our cost burden at a time when we can least afford that.” He added, “We want to make sure we match changes in capacity with the changes in demand that are occurring as a result of the economic slowdown.” Alicia Seah, a senior vice president at CTC Holidays travel agency, alleged most of the Singaporeans were opting for closer and cheaper holiday destinations for example Indonesia Malaysia, and Vietnam. He said “What we see is that passengers are slowing down after Chinese New Year.” He added “They are tightening their belts.”
On last Thursday it is said that in December passenger numbers were downward 7.5% year-on-year. According to statistics it carried around1.61 million passengers last month, compared with 1.74 million in December 2007. Additionally, it filled nearly 80%t of seats, down 4.4% point’s year-on-year. On the other hand, the city-state’s flag carrier said in November 2008 that net income for the fiscal second quarter ending September fell 36.2% from 2007, as the airline felt the pinch from the economic downturn. In this circumstance officials say the government should take necessary step to control this situation; otherwise the problems become worsen.