According to the airline group, no fewer than 700 flights will be withdrawn from the schedules of Singapore Airlines and its regional subsidiary Silk Air between March and the end of May. The City-State being one of the cities most affected by the coronavirus with 81 cases recorded by 18 February, Singapore idles. Congresses and conferences have been cancelled on a massive scale, while hotel occupancy rates have fallen below 50%, and even below 30% on the island of Sentosa, where theme parks and resorts are concentrated... A worrying sign: the government is forecasting a fall in GDP from 0.5% to 1.5%.
The SIA group is therefore adapting to this situation, without closing any services apart from the temporary suspension of services to San Francisco and certain cities in mainland China. On the other hand, Singapore Airlines trims routes to EuropeAustralia/New Zealand, North East Asia and South Asia, while Silk Air is cutting back on 13 destinations in South East Asia. The measure weakens the position of Changi, one of the most important hubs in Asia and a major hub between Europe, the Pacific and the whole of Asia. Visit flight cancellations only take place on certain dates in the calendar, the company having posted a document on line detailing the days of cancellation for each destination. A searchable calendar here.
In Europe, the cities affected by a reduction in capacity are Copenhagen, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, London and Paris. On the Paris CDG-SingaporeThe airline will not be operating flights on 12, 20 and 25 May. This is a low figure compared to the 21 flights cancelled to London and the 9 cancelled to Frankfurt. There are also numerous flight cancellations to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, India and Sri Lanka. At the same time, Silk Air is reducing its frequencies to Indonesia, Bangkok, Cambodia, Kuala Lumpur, Brunei and Penang.
The company states that all measures are taken to minimise inconvenience to passengers. SIA says it will continue to monitor the situation closely and make any necessary adjustments - upwards or downwards - as demand develops.
