SIA the parent airline of the SIA Group, plans to operate 137 weekly flights to Australia in Aug-2017 compared to 122 weekly flights the same period last year. The additional 15 flights include three more frequencies to Melbourne from Jul-2017 and four more frequencies to Brisbane from Aug-2017, increasing Melbourne to a total of 31 weekly flights and Brisbane to a total of 28 weekly flights.
The other additional flights include SIA's new service from Canberra to Singapore and Wellington. SIA launched four weekly flights on the Singapore-Canberra-Wellington route in late Sep-2016, providing another eight weekly year-round return flights for the Australia market, when including both ends of the route.
SIA's weekly seat capacity in Australia will reach a record 42,000 one-way seats in Aug-2017, according to CAPA and OAG data - an increase of nearly 20% compared to Aug-2016. The capacity increase is higher than the 12% increase in frequencies as SIA has up-gauged some of its existing Australia flights over the last year including bringing back the A380 on one of its Melbourne flights.
Singapore Airlines one-way weekly seat capacity to Australia: Mar-2014 to Aug-2017
Note: seat figures are approximate
Source: CAPA - Centre for Aviation & OAG
SIA's one-way capacity to Melbourne will be at record levels in Aug-2017, at nearly 10,000 weekly seats, according to CAPA and OAG data. Brisbane at the same time will reach an all-time record 8,000 weekly one-way seats from Aug-2017. Sydney capacity will be approximately 12,000 weekly one-way seats in Aug-2017, matching a high only achieved during the last peak southern winter season in Dec-2016 and Jan-2017.
SIA's regional full service subsidiary SilkAir is also adding a fifth daily flight to Cairns in Jul-2017. SilkAir, which also serves Darwin, will offer approximately 1,600 weekly one-way seats to Australia in Aug-2017, representing a more than 20% increase compared to Aug-2016.
SIA Group's LCC subsidiary Scoot also has four destinations in Australia (Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney). Scoot's capacity to Australia has been relatively flat over the last year. Scoot will have approximately 8,000 weekly one-way seats in the Australian market in Aug-2017.
The SIA Group, when including its various brands, will therefore have more than 100,000 weekly return seats in the Australian market in Aug-2017. The group will account for a 10% share of total international seat capacity, overtaking Emirates as the largest foreign airline group in Australia. SIA the parent airline will capture an 8.2% share, up 0.7ppts from its current share, while SilkAir and Scoot combined account for nearly another 2%.
Australia international capacity share (% of seats) by airline: 21-Aug-2017 to 27-Aug-2017
Source: CAPA - Centre for Aviation & OAG