Singapore Airlines stops flights to Vancouver from April 2009

Singapore Airlines, the national airline of Singapore, will suspend flights to Vancouver in Canada from April 2009.

Singapore Airlines now flies to Vancouver through Seoul in South Korea three times a week. The suspension of the Vancouver flight is indefinite, and the last flight to Vancouver will be on April 25, 2009, a statement from Singapore Airlines said. The airline said it was resorting to this step owing to the global economic slowdown which has eaten away at demand for air travel and added that “the decision to suspend service is most regrettable, as Singapore Airlines has served Canada for over 20 years.”

It said arrangements were being made to notify the affected customers and to offer them alternative plans for travel. Customers holding tickets issued before February 14, 2009, for flights after April 25, 2009, on both outbound and inbound journeys would receive a refund without a penalty or fee.

However, the Singapore Airlines statement said the airline would continue to serve Canada through its current schedule of 42 weekly flights between Singapore and its gateways in the United States.

Singapore Airlines also offers codeshare services on Air Canada – Canada’s bigest airline and the country’s flag carrier – to Toronto and Montreal from its European gateways.

Singapore Airlines had said in January 2009 that it planned to reduce flights to the United States, Europe, India and South-east Asia because of a drop in demand for travel.
The airline had also announced that it was cutting its all-business-class service to New York and Los Angeles.

A few days ago, the airline had said that its profits for October-December 2008 had fallen by 43% as it carried 4.2% fewer passengers. The cargo traffic too went down during the period.

Singapore Airlines, with its hub at Singapore’s Changi Airport, flies to East Asia, South Asia, South-east Asia, Australia as well as well as operates trans-Pacific flights.

Recent reports in the media had revealed that Singapore was facing its worst economic recession since it separated from Malaysia in 1965, mainly because of a sharp decline in exports.

Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines is facing huge losses in terms of revenues from foreign tourists as the dispute between the carrier and the association of India-based travel agents has worsened.

Reports in the Indian media say that travel agents across India are discourage tour packages to Singapore and replacing them with similarly priced destinations such as Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

It was in November 2009 that Singapore Airlines and 11 other airlines stopped paying commissions to travel agents. Six associations of travel agents are blocking the sale of Singapore Airlines’ tickets in order to press their demand for reinstatement of the 5% commission.

According to official estimates, for the last two years, Indians made up the fourth-largest group visiting Singapore, out of around 800,000 tourists who go to Singapore a year.