Playing the long game

Ultra long-haul routes are difficult to make sustainable, but there is potential with the right strategy

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has just launched its fourth ultra long-haul service, from Singapore to Seattle, joining similar routes to New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. In the past couple of years we’ve seen Qantas introduce a successful nonstop Perth-London service and both Qatar Airways and Emirates begin non-stop flights from their Gulf hubs to New Zealand. Ultra long-haul flights are not new, but when SIA first offered them to the US some years ago, it did so on large A340s fitted with fewer seats than they were designed for and using four gas-guzzling engines. Why the sudden flurry of activity? Are such flights sustainable and will we see more of them? What’s changed? The big difference is the availability of new aircraft and the technology advances that they embody. Airbus’s A350…

You're reading a preview of

Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Edition (Digital) - 1 Issue, November 2019

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.