Singapore Airlines reverses expansion policy

After massively increasing capacity last year, and consequently suffering from much lower load factors, Singapore Airlines has launched the new year with an announcement of massive capacity cuts. Gradually from now until March, the carrier intends to cut 214 flights, around 3 per cent of its current scheduled services.

 "We are approaching the economic downturn with the same broad approach to capacity that we had during the SARS downturn in 2003," said a Singapore Airlines spokesperson. "We do not 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 it."

 While the exact services facing the axe have not been named, it is expected that the airline will cut many of its Australian services, downgrading capacity to Perth, Sydney and Brisbane. Other destinations which will see lower capacity include London, Zurich, Mumbai, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

 Since the start of the year, Singapore Airlines has announced other cost savings measures, including offering cargo pilots up to 30 months of leave without pay. In all of 2008, Singapore Airlines did not see a single month that showed growth in terms of year-on-year load factors, due to a heaping up of extra capacity across the entire network.

Singapore Airlines' last year-on-year load factor increase was December 2007, with a 0.3 per cent increase to 84.3 per cent.