No decision yet on whether SIA will get access to US-Austral

• sbst275

  20 Feb 06, 21:06

  SINGAPORE : No decision has been made yet about granting Singapore Airlines access to the lucrative Australia-US route.
  
  Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong told reporters this when asked about Australian media reports that SIA would be shut out of this route, possibly for at least two years.
  
  He was speaking from the sidelines of the Aviation Summit, held in conjunction with Asian Aerospace.
  
  SIA has been fighting for a piece of the lucrative trans-pacific route for years but has been blocked by Qantas, which dominates the route.
  
  Mr Yeo said Singapore is still waiting for an official announcement from Australia, whose Cabinet is likely to discuss the issue this week.
  
  But he hoped when a decision is made, it would be on the basis of strengthening relations with Singapore and moving forward in terms of providing a bit of competition on the US-Australia route.
  
  "I can't see how giving a daily flight to Singapore's SIA for the transpacific route will, in any way, bankrupt Qantas so we should move step by step taking into consideration the needs for them to offer some protection to Qantas," said the Transport Minister.
  
  "We hope that the Australian government will be fair minded and favouring market forces, allow us access to the route," said Chew Choon Seng, CEO of Singapore Airlines.
  
  In an open letter to The Australian newspaper, SIA's CEO wrote that Qantas did not need protection from competition and did itself a disservice by asking for it. And that airline protection by governments ultimately robbed consumers of choices and the tourism industry of growth.
  
  - CNA /ls
• iveco

  20 Feb 06, 21:08

  Even if there is limited access, it should be good enough. I wouldn't mind if SIA were allowed to fly to LA ONLY via Sydney as it still allows them some control over trans-pacific routes.
• sbst275

  20 Feb 06, 21:10

  Qantas always say their planes are not always filled
  
  Is there a 'bao yah' in doing business? Defintely not... Even SIA loading rate is abt 60%+ similar to the Australia Transpacific Rt
• sbst275

  20 Feb 06, 21:18

  Originally posted by iveco:

  Even if there is limited access, it should be good enough. I wouldn't mind if SIA were allowed to fly to LA ONLY via Sydney as it still allows them some control over trans-pacific routes.

  LA is good enough
  
  Transpacific Shipping Rts from Singapore I can say 80% only calls LA
• ^tamago^

  21 Feb 06, 15:57

  This in at 2pm.
  
  Australia govt rejects SIA bid to fly Sydney - LA
  
  CANBERRA (Reuters) - The Australian government has rejected a bid by Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI: Quote, Profile, Research) for access to the lucrative Sydney-Los Angeles route for "some years," Transport Minister Warren Truss said on Tuesday.
  
  The government has also rejected a push by Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN.AX: Quote, Profile, Research) to lift its 49 percent foreign investment cap -- which restricts single foreign investors to 25 percent of the company and foreign airlines to a 35 percent, Truss said in a statement.
  
  But the Australian government urged Qantas and Singapore Air to consider the advantages of a possible alliance between the two companies, Truss said.
  
  Australia's largest airline Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN.AX: Quote, Profile, Research) and U.S. carrier United Airlines, part of UAL Corp (UAUA.O: Quote, Profile, Research), are the only two airlines able to offer direct flights from Australia to the mainland United States.
  
  Discount carrier Virgin Blue (VBA.AX: Quote, Profile, Research) also wants access to the route.
  
  More news here.
• sbst275

  23 Feb 06, 08:42

  Australia seeks talks with S'pore over trans-Pacific flights
  
  SYDNEY : Australia will seek talks with Singapore after the city state took the unusual step of publicly rebuking Canberra for maintaining a trans-Pacific ban on Singapore Airlines.
  
  Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Wednesday his government wanted to explain the decision to deny such flights to the Singapore carrier.
  
  "We look forward to sitting down with the Singapore government at the officials level fairly soon to talk about this issue," Downer told reporters.
  
  "There are things they want from Australia, there are things we want from Singapore and we'll sit down and have a good talk about those things in an appropriate and a private setting."
  
  His comments came after Singapore went public with its displeasure at Tuesday's decision to maintain a ban on SIA flying the lucrative Australia-US route dominated by Qantas, the latest twist in talks stretching back more than a decade.
  
  In an unusually blunt statement, Singapore accused Australia of taking its generosity and warmth in bilateral relations for granted.
  
  "Singapore has also been more than generous in facilitating the growth of Australian carriers to and beyond Singapore. It is disheartening to see that they have taken this and the warmth in our bilateral relationship for granted," Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong said.
  
  Yeo's department said Singapore "has more than fulfilled its commitment to Australia" with a liberal aviation policy that allowed Qantas to grow its operations in the city-state to a size second only to the airline's home base.
  
  But in remarks unlikely to ease tensions between Canberra and Singapore, Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said many objections to Canberra's decision were "ill-founded".
  
  Dixon described Qantas as "the least protected airline in the world," saying it had been prevented from expanding services to destinations such as Britain and France because of the government decisions that dominate the industry.
  
  "We live in a bilateral world, this is not just pure economic rationalism in the airline industry, all of this is played by the rules," he said.
  
  Qantas earns as much as 20 percent of its profits from its Sydney-Los Angeles services, with US-based United Airlines the only other carrier flying the route.
  
  It has long argued it would be disadvantaged if state-backed airlines such as SIA were allowed in while Transport Minister Warren Truss said access would only be granted if it was in the national interest.
  
  "If access is negotiated in the future, it'll be limited and it'll be phased and we certainly wouldn't expect Singapore Airlines to be operating on the route for some years," Truss said Tuesday when announcing the decision.
  
  Singapore said the decision was inconsistent with the many signals from Australian leaders in past rounds of discussions that the issue would be resolved within a reasonable timeframe.
  
  "I have always held Australia in high regard as a close bilateral partner. Thus, I am naturally very disappointed with this decision, especially after more than 10 years of protracted discussions," Minister Yeo said.
  
  Apparently heading off another possible line of attack, Australian Treasurer Peter Costello said the decision was totally unconnected to Singapore's hanging in December of convicted Australian drug trafficker Nguyen Van Truong.
  
  "We do not link the death policy to aviation policy," he told reporters.
  
  Costello said the decision was aimed at allowing Australian discount carrier Virgin Blue onto the route and if the airline failed to take up the option within the next few years, then it would be reviewed. - AFP/ch
  
  *We should not be nice to them, we made FTA with them yet they are unwilling to give limited access to the transpacific rts