Singapore Airlines Plans Limited-time Busan & Sapporo service in W11

[scooby5]

Some people rave about Haeundae Beach but I am not sure why. I am there for a week next month and am not particularly looking forward to it but the Koreans love the place, along with Jeju...

Heading to Kormarine and staying at Haeundae Beach, as always. It's a nice place, plenty of places to eat and drink and the food quality can be very good. But, yeah, nothing to rave about in terms of what a beach is, and best avoided in the summer though technically it is the best time of the year to go

Decided to fly through BKK again on TG but despite the large port and ship building industries in the area I am 50:50 on whether PUS can support a daily flight from SIN - the BKK one from TG isn't.

[Kyo]

Some people rave about Haeundae Beach but I am not sure why....

I also found this rather average, to be honest - so it's certainly not about the beach. I do find that when I flew in on Air Busan (yay), the inflight magazine had articles about the hinterland areas, with some VERY stunning raw natural beauty. This, however, is poor reason for SQ to launch route, even if it were not hampered by the bilateral restrictions.

We are talking about Korea's second biggest city and the world's second and fifth busiest ports both of which have a lot of ship building and repair industries either there or nearby.

This, however is a reason - and it would be an awesome one as well. No way the Koreans are gonna allow it, however. Had a chance to hang out with stargold and N Architect there earlier this month, and our tour did take a more 'marine industry' focus.

Busan has awesomely engineered bridge. Truly a marvel in this day and age.

It's a pity their airport is rubbish.

[Pinkfloyd]

Greetings from Geoje island. It's a pain trying to get here from SIN (changing from ICN to GMP, on to PUS then an hour's bus ride to Okpo). I, for one, would love to see a regular SIN-PUS flight as I might have to be here on a bi-monthly basis.

[MAN Flyer]

The KTX is going to be extended to Incheon International Airport come Dec '13. That means a realistic journey time of about three hours to Busan and Gwangju can be achieved.

While another option is always to be welcomed the fact remains that the lack of flights from a countries major hub gateway to it's second city is ridiculous. And yes, the bee is still stuck firmly in the bonnet over this !!

Heading to Kormarine and staying at Haeundae Beach, as always. It's a nice place, plenty of places to eat and drink and the food quality can be very good.

To be fair I was probably a little harsh by saying I wasn't looking forward to it. While it would never be my beach destination of choice there are many (far) worse places to go. I also have to say I am looking forward to checking out the new Park Hyatt.

Decided to fly through BKK again on TG but despite the large port and ship building industries in the area I am 50:50 on whether PUS can support a daily flight from SIN - the BKK one from TG isn't.

OK, it's not daily...it's five times a week, on a widebody!. Thankfully now an A330 rather than the ABloody6. However, KE's BKK-PUS flight is daily, and that is being upgraded from an A330 to a 744 for three months. So if BKK can support a daily 744 and five times a week A330, I remain of the opinion a direct flight from SIN would work. Heck, even HAN and SGN have direct flights to PUS!. Granted there is a lot of Korean investment in Vietnam but still....

[scooby5]

Greetings from Geoje island. It's a pain trying to get here from SIN (changing from ICN to GMP, on to PUS then an hour's bus ride to Okpo). I, for one, would love to see a regular SIN-PUS flight as I might have to be here on a bi-monthly basis.

Sweet talk them nicely, or shower them with gifts and try to get the chopper over

[Airbus SAS A340-500]

While another option is always to be welcomed the fact remains that the lack of flights from a countries major hub gateway to it's second city is ridiculous. And yes, the bee is still stuck firmly in the bonnet over this !!

OK, it's not daily...it's five times a week, on a widebody!. Thankfully now an A330 rather than the ABloody6. However, KE's BKK-PUS flight is daily, and that is being upgraded from an A330 to a 744 for three months. So if BKK can support a daily 744 and five times a week A330, I remain of the opinion a direct flight from SIN would work. Heck, even HAN and SGN have direct flights to PUS!. Granted there is a lot of Korean investment in Vietnam but still....

I believe the Bangkok-Busan traffic is very different from a Singapore-Busan one if it were to be launched. Bangkok-Busan is a highly focused leisure-oriented Korean outbound market, as with Vietnamese destinations from Busan.

A Singapore-Busan market would easily fill itself with Korean connecting pax to Australia, New Zealand and also feed MI's flights to Indonesia. I believe this strategy is what AirAsia X has been doing to fill its Busan flights. However, SQ has an advantage as there would also be demand on the premium cabin at both terminating ends.

[Airbus SAS A340-500]

Would it be possible if the moderators change this topic's title to 'SQ/MI Chartered Flights'?


Just to add on to the list of charter flights that SQ does... Singapore Airlines is flying a one-time charter to Okinawa in March 2014.

SQ8528: 0200SIN-OKA0800 ; 05 MAR 14
SQ8527: 1910OKA-SIN2305 ; 09 MAR 14

A question. What would the plane/crew do on the ground from 05032014 to 09032014?
It seems awfully long and makes for horrible aircraft utilisation.

[CarbonMan]

Would it be possible if the moderators change this topic's title to 'SQ/MI Chartered Flights'?


Just to add on to the list of charter flights that SQ does... Singapore Airlines is flying a one-time charter to Okinawa in March 2014.

SQ8528: 0200SIN-OKA0800 ; 05 MAR 14
SQ8527: 1910OKA-SIN2305 ; 09 MAR 14

A question. What would the plane/crew do on the ground from 05032014 to 09032014?
It seems awfully long and makes for horrible aircraft utilisation.

You're presuming that they'll stick around? Unless the charterer is paying for it (and it will be expensive), I would imagine that the plane will come back empty PDQ.

[Kyo]

I wouldn't mind a day visiting Naha

[jasonahl]

I did the chartered flight to Okinawa last year, SQ collaborate with a Japanese travel agency to ferry student from Naha to Singapore for 4 nights, so they fly a B777-200ER with load of Singapore tourist to Naha & bring the Japanese student to Singapore on the return leg, cabin crew on the SIN/OKA do get 4 nights stay at a beach hotel, we got the same set of crew for the return leg 5 days later.
SQ do position a set of crew via TPE to Naha before our arrival, the turnaround of the aircraft was pretty swift, clearly remember saw all the Japanese student boarded the plane while we are clearing the Japanese custom.

[Airbus SAS A340-500]

It seems that Singapore Airlines has been running the Busan charters (SQ8514 / SQ8513) over the past month or so... Operated every four days using C30Y293-configured SR-series aircraft.

Is this confirmed to be a yearly affair? I went around to various travel agencies but found no trace of tour packages involving the charter flight to PUS.

[Powerpoke]

Think you must confirm with SQ as travel agencies dont have full offers

[9V-SIA]

Today's Business Times reports that SQ intends to fly to Sapporo

Twice weekly ( Mon & Fri )

Unfortunately only in December & January

Good for powder hounds. Not so great for wild flower lovers

[bent]

I'm trying to book SIN-CTS on SQ website but don't see the direct flight listed? I selected 12 Dec which is a Friday. SQ 660 supposed to operate on that day but I don't see it?