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13,250
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LONG-HAUL AIR TRAVEL
BOONSONG KOSITCHOTETHANA
A passenger entertains himself with his personal audio and video content from his iPod. |
An SIA A340-500 takes off from Singapore Changi Airport. |
LOS ANGELES : With fuel at a historic high price and likely to remain so in the long term, the viability of ultra long-haul flights has been a subject of hot debate among airline executives.
Another issue is the all-business-class model, as the sector is braced for further failure in the second half of this year because of the economic downturn and the drop in business activity.
Many believe the era for ultra long-haul air services _ non-stop flights involving distances more than 12,000 kilometres and more than 15 hours of flying _ is coming to an end for several carriers.
Prohibitive jet fuel prices, which soared above US$170 a barrel in July, are turning flights such as Thai Airways International's Bangkok-New York and Bangkok-Los Angeles into commercial disasters.
Excluding THAI, which is completely exiting the ultra long-haul business, there are only about 10 international airlines still offering extra-long scheduled passenger flights with specially designed aircraft.
All but two of the airlines that offered all-business-class flights have also called it quits. Only OpenSkies, owned by British Airways, and Singapore Airlines (SIA) remain airborne.
OpenSkies recently announced that it would ramp up its all-business-class service into the European Union, while SIA is stepping up its non-stop flights from Singapore to the US.
These decisions raise a lot of questions. Is it a good idea while the US is facing an economic downturn and Europe is heading in the same direction? How can these airlines possibly survive in such a tough time while others have failed?
How can they ride out the storm of spiking oil prices that, according to the latest estimate by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), will cause the world's airlines to lose US $5.2 billion this year and $4.1 billion in 2009?
Though there are risks involved, as in any business ventures, SIA defends the expansion of its ultra long-haul all-business-class flights.
''Notwithstanding the economic climate right now, we have to make a decision for a long-term plan not for a short-term economic impact,'' said SIA vice-president Stephen Forshaw.
The carrier is increasing the frequency of its non-stop Singapore-Los Angeles flights from three times a week to daily from Sept 21.
It was only on Aug 12 that SIA launched this second non-stop all-business-class Singapore-US route, less than three months after it began a non-stop all-business-class service to New York (Newark) _ by far the world's longest non-stop scheduled flight, covering 15,700 km (18 hours, 25 minutes) for the outbound from Singapore and 16,600 km (18 hours, 40 minutes) for the inbound.
SIA was also the first airline to operate all-business-class flights between Asia and the US, in response to demand from several corporate travellers.
''We constantly had many [business class bookings] on the waiting list that we could not accommodate,'' said Mr Forshaw.
To supply this demand, SIA reconfigured its five Airbus A340-500 jetliners on the non-stop Singapore-New York and Singapore-Los Angeles routes to all-business-class from their previous allocation of 64 business seats and 117 ''executive economy'' seats.
The five A340-500s, a model similar to that used by THAI on its suspended non-stop New York and Los Angeles flights, were retrofitted with 100 business class seats, in a four-abreast, 1-2-1 layout.
According to Mr Forshaw, SIA's first non-stop all-business-class route to New York has enjoyed packed flights and an average load factor of 80%, while the recently launched Los Angeles flights also brought improved performance.
However, SIA's decision to go all-business for its non-stop US flights was taken before oil prices soared in late April, partly in line with a strategy to introduce to long-haul services business class seats with features to make flights across the Pacific easier.
Each of the 100 seats outfitted on A340-500 is 76 cm wide, almost 50% wider than most business class seats offered by other airlines. The innovative design allows the seat to transform into a fully flat bed for sleeping or for lounging while enjoying more than 1,000 on-demand options available on KrisWorld, SIA's inflight entertainment system.
An AC power outlet and a USB plug are available at every seat to complement a 15.4-inch video screen equipped with office applications based on Sun Microsystems' StarOffice platform to allow passengers to work without a laptop.
These special features come at a price for corporate travellers. According to SIA officials, a return ticket on the all-business-class non-stop Singapore-Los Angeles flight with connecting Bangkok-Singapore connection costs more than 193,000 baht, excluding taxes and surcharges.
A business class seat on SIA's Boeing 747-400 flight from Singapore to Los Angeles, with a stopover in Tokyo's Narita, and including connecting flights from Bangkok, sets one back by more than 156,000 baht, excluding extras.
SIA continues to offer daily 747-400 flight between Singapore and New York, a daily 747-400 flight to Los Angeles via Tokyo Narita and a four-times-weekly 777-200ER service to LAX via Taipei.
There are no plans for SIA to expand its ultra-long-haul services beyond the main New York and Los Angeles routes served by the five A340-500s.
''If we were to look at increasing the frequencies or adding destinations, we would need to buy more aircraft [A340-500]. The economic case for buying more aircraft in such a high fuel-cost environment is very difficult,'' said Mr Forshaw, who added that SIA was not in the market for special-performance jetliners requiring a very high capital outlay.
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