There were no surprises or changes in ranking from last year. For the sixth consecutive year, Singapore Airlines (SIA) topped the airline category. Place-getters Cathay Pacific and Emirates narrowed the gap between them. With a broad-based recovery in passenger loads and yields, SIA enjoyed a high passenger load factor of 79.4 per cent for the first half of its financial year from April to September 2010. It expects demand to match a planned increase in capacity growth.
This may not be such good news for MICE, because it could mean higher air fares and fewer seats for convention delegates and incentive groups. However, Nicholas Ionides, vice-president public affairs, assures that the MICE sector is important to SIA, especially given the growth the industry has shown in recent years as well as its value to the economy.
“We have MICE coordinators in markets across our global network. They also work with the Singapore Tourism Board to identify potential events and facilitate transportation of delegates to Singapore,” he says.
SIA supported the Singapore Airshow and Youth Olympic Games in 2010 for which it was official airline partner. As a premium, full-service airline, business traffic makes up a significant portion of SIA’s customer base. The airline places strong emphasis on continual innovation and enhancement of products and services he says. “The aim is to offer busy business travelers greater choice and convenience; for example, we plan to introduce in-flight internet access and mobile telephony this year.”
SIA recently launched services to Tokyo’s Haneda airport, complementing its Narita route. Frequency will also increase on some existing routes to meet higher demand.
Second-placed Cathay Pacific will introduce new business class seats for premium passengers beginning in March. Third-placed Emirates Airlines now has a strong route network from Dubai to 12 cities in Northeast and Southeast Asia, six cities in Australasia and 17 cities in South Asia.