tullamarine wrote:evanb wrote:FromCDGtoSYD wrote:Honestly a real shame, it gave a lot of reach to QF and really make SIN into a hub that not many other airlines have overseas in this day and age.
That being said with Scoot constantly rising, Airasia and all the other lowcost airlines in the region from T’way, Zipair, GBA, Vietjet etc its increasingly harder for them to compete for a pie that whilst growing again had shrunk so much due to covid.
For SIN based QFFs it was great to have lounge access and I always had a soft spot for the OKA route as it allowed through ticketing to KIX and NRT with Jetstar japan.
Part of SGN being dropped is maybe also due to the demise of Jetstar pacific.
Agreed, although the market and QF have changed so much since its establishment. Consider that within a few years after its establishment, QF were routing daily SYD-SIN-LHR, MEL-SIN-LHR and SYD-FRA-FRA through SIN, supplementing it with connecting PER-SIN, BNE-SIN and ADL-SIN. JQ were also feeding CNS-SIN, DRW-SIN, MEL-SIN and PER-SIN. In addition, BNE extended onto BOM! So SIN was in a good position to feed to and from additional regional routes, and advance from being a scissor hub.
But the world and market changed entirely. They dropped FRA and switched LHR flights to DXB. The ADL flight and extension to BOM was dropped. Scaled up SYD-CGK and SYD-MNL over time. All this reduced the critical mass and couldn't be supplemented by connecting traffic from third party airlines which they had less control of capacity and revenue management.
A point you highlight is that 3K was never able to build a legitimately independent low cost operation that could compete. Like Scoot (and Tiger) they could not really compete with AirAsia, Lion, Batik Air, Cebu Pacific, IndiGo, VietJet Air, etc who will always beat Scoot, Tiger and Jetstar Asia on cost structure. Even SQ folded Tiger into Scoot, and Scoot has been a mechanism for SQ to shift its own cost base.
QF had an opportunity to set up SIN as a secondary hub but unfortunately lost the opportunity though, admittedly, it wasn't all their fault.. SIN was even encouraging it at one stage and wasn't really protecting SQ with a completely Open Skies policy.
RedQ was the initial strategy but it was doomed from the start as SQ would have always moved to crush a full-service carrier on its own turf. 3K was a logical vehicle but the ownership structure meant it was always under-invested. SQ also responded aggressively pouring resources into Scoot with both new 787 and A320NEOs acquired. In 2018, the QF SIN Scissor Hub strategy further fell apart when 9W went under and QF has never really satisfactorily filled the gap that left them with.
What is left is not without some use though it doesn't seem any of the owners are particularly interested and the forced move to T4 so Scoot can occupy the space in T1 seems to suggest that SIN has decided to side with the home-team.
I do agree the forced move to T4 is unfortunate and does show priority to the SQ group. Does 3K still codeshare with EK, and a couple of others?
I think Jetstar Hong Kong, and Vietnam distracted QF they should have solidified Singapore, along with the 330s based up there although tbf 3K was profitable for a few years, and Jet Star Japan seems to be doing well. I do wonder once things stabilise we’ll see them grow again. There is a lot of money to be more easily made in Australia at the moment, so easier to send the 320s off to WA for guaranteed returns than risk in Asia.
I wonder how the locals Singaporean markets judges the 3K brand and link with QF ff scheme? For markets outside of Singapore I do think more 321XLR flying P2P from both JQ and QF will help the Au market - inter Asia I suspect no brand loyalty in the LCC space, who ever is cheapest wins!
Whatever happened to the agreement signed between Jetstar and Air Asia for odd partnership?
