The Hindu Business Line : SIA looking at Vizag, Tiruchi routes

Chennai, Feb. 22 Singapore Airlines is preparing to launch a flight connecting to Visakhapatnam. The service, however, is likely to be provided by Singapore Airlines’ wholly owned subsidiary, Silk Air.

“We are also seriously looking at Tiruchi,” Mr Bharat Mahadevan, SIA, told Business Line recently. He said that SIA was also considering linking to Madurai. Madurai is growing into an industrial centre and it has a Regional Passport Office, Mr Mahadeven observed.

Mr Mahadevan is not worried about the direct flights to Tiruchi and Madurai eating into the Chennai-Singapore loads. This is because the Chennai-Singapore market itself is growing. Every month, about 22,000 passengers go on this route, many of them going onwards to other destinations, mostly to the US. This market is growing by about 10 per cent. SIA has between 15 per cent and 20 per cent share of the market.

Singapore Airlines also has the highest capacity on this route — 3,500 seats per week, followed by the low-cost carrier Air India Express, which as 2,500. Tiger Airways, in which SIA has a 49 per cent stake, has 1,260, while Indian and Jet have 1,700 and 1,500, respectively.

Recently, SIA started advertising (the world over) with tax-included fares. Consequently, the airline appears to be little more expensive. This, according to Mr Mahadevan, has affected the market. However, SIA believes that over time passengers would realise that SIA’s prices are inclusive of taxes and would come back to the airline.

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