Australia To Consider Extra Singapore Air Routes

I know this has been brought up a couple of times in the last few weeks, but this is the first press release that I have seen on the matter. It was brought up that QF was claiming this particular market to be ‘fragile,’ or something along those lines, at the moment? I don’t know guys, the word “lucrative” seems to fall under a completely different genre than the term “fragile,” in my opinion.

January 20, 2005
The Australian government will consider a push by Singapore Airlines to gain access to the lucrative Sydney-Los Angeles route, Transport Minister John Anderson said on Thursday.

Qantas, Australia’s largest airline, has a strong grip on trans-Pacific traffic from the United States and Singapore Airlines has signalled it wants to service the route, as has Sir Richard Branson, who set up his Virgin Blue discount carrier four years ago.

Anderson said he would take a recommendation to cabinet after meeting next month with the Singapore government, which owns 57 percent of the airline, and also after talks in Europe to discuss Australian access to British and European markets.

Singapore Airlines’ access to the trans-Pacific route had been under discussion for some time, but the government believed the international aviation climate had been too uncertain to open up the route to further competition, the minister said.

“However, it is now widely recognized that the situation is stabilizing,” Anderson said in a statement. “On my return (from Singapore and Europe) I will be in a better position to take recommendations forward to cabinet,” he said.

“No decision has been made to allow Singapore Airlines access to the trans-Pacific route,” he said.

(Reuters)