Qantas Adds New Melbourne-Singapore Flights

17th Dec 2015

Starting with April next year, Qantas will add three more weekly flights on its Melbourne-Singapore route. The Australian carrier will use Airbus A330 planes for the new services, a move made possible when The Flying Kangaroo replaced A330s with Boeing 747s on its Melbourne-Hong Kong route.

With this, Qantas will offer a total of 10 flights per week between Melbourne and Singapore, significantly boosting its recent push into Asia.

The flights will operate on Fridays and weekends, departing from the Victorian capital in the afternoon and arriving in Singapore in the evening at 22:00 P.M. The return flight would then take off at 23:35 P.M. and would arrive in Melbourne at 9:00 A.M the following day.

In a statement, Qantas said the changes "were part of the effort to adjust its network to meet growing demand from Asia."

At the moment, Qantas Group has 43 per cent of its capacity dedicated to Asia, 31% to N. America, 14% to Europe, Africa and the Middle East and 12% to South America, Pacific and Tasman.

Qantas isn't the only one aiming for a bigger piece of the cake in the Asian market, however, as rival Virgin Australia and its ally Singapore Airlines are also looking into adding extra services between Australia and Asia.

SIA flies to Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide from Singapore.

South West Pacific regional vice president of Singapore Airlines Tiow Kor Tan said:

"Despite the weakening of both the Australian and New Zealand dollar we have experienced good loads in 2015, which is why we are currently reviewing our services for 2016. This review is looking at the possibility of increasing capacity by seven per cent into the South West Pacific region in 2016."

He added:

"The makeup of this capacity increase is also part of the review; however it is likely that the majority of the increase will be in the Australian market. It is too early to announce whether the increase will be in the form of additional services, larger aircraft or a mix of both."