SQ contemplates flights to Sao Paulo

[SQalMundo]

But wouldn't stopping over at Barcelona be a huge detour on its way to Sao Paulo (it's like going North, then suddenly 'plunging' South)?

[Kiwi]

But wouldn't stopping over at Barcelona be a huge detour on its way to Sao Paulo (it's like going North, then suddenly 'plunging' South)?

Not as much of a difference as you might expect. sample routes on GCM

sin-jnb-gru 10012 miles
sin-bcn-gru 12209 miles
sin-akl-gru 12709 miles

[SQMilan]

And what about SIN-MXP... in Italy they have been saying for long time that SQ would like to operate separate flights to both MXP and BCN. I have seen on SQ website that if I book BCN-SIN the price is very very very high. Could someone give me a piece of information about this, please? Thank you very much.

[B727]

.........and more Spanish-to-English translation .......... courtesy of Google Translate
http://www.expansion.com/2009/11/20/...258749149.html

The Spanish comments at the end of the article are hilarious!

So, I gather that Spanair doesn't really have its own resources to fly to GRU, but would welcome an SQ/*A codeshare (I never really understood how or why Spanair is part of *A other than SK had something to do with it).

I think that's a win-win for all parties concerned: the bottomline is that SQ, Spanair and BCN all get direct flights to Brazil.

[B727]

Great news if it happens.

I'm surprised by the number of Singapore businessmen I've met that fly to Brazil on business.

Maybe this flight is for them... and Spanish businessmen.

South America is very much within Spain's "sphere of [economic]influence".

( OK Brazil was a Portuguese colony but the rest of South America was Spanish.)

I'm surprised there isn't already a BCN-Brasil direct flight!

JJ flies MAD-GRU which obviously caters to a lucrative business travel market. However, there are close ties between BCN and Brasil as well. I know people from BCN who not only travel to Brasil regularly on holiday, but also live and own businesses in South America's largest economy.

[B727]

With Latin America linked in its network, SQ's route map would finally span all the 5 continents (except Antarctica, of course).

Brasil makes so much sense as a new destination for SQ passenger flights.

SIA already serves the four most populous countries in the world--China, India, USA, and Indonesia. Guess who's the fifth most populous nation with an ascendant economy? Yep, Brasil.

Every year, I see more and more Brazilians traveling overseas and not just to European destinations (Barcelona is def a fav). Many, especially young Brazilians are traveling to Asia--Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore are already on their lists.

[B727]

Does SQ have fifth freedom in Spain? The only port of call that comes to mind for a ASEAN/S America connection looks to FRA currently.

What frame would they use, surely a 77E cannot make that range. Might a 77W be an overkill?

Back in the day when RG was part of *A, a SIN-FRA-GIG itinerary was suggested to me using SQ for SIN-FRA and FRA-GIG on LH metal (RG codeshare) and it didn't make sense to me to fly all the way from Singapore to Germany to get down the South American way.

So I chose MH instead with its southerly route via South Africa across the southern Atlantic.

[B727]

Not as much of a difference as you might expect. sample routes on GCM

sin-jnb-gru 10012 miles
sin-bcn-gru 12209 miles
sin-akl-gru 12709 miles

That certainly supports the idea of SQ flying SIN-BCN-GRU. As much as I liked stopping in South Africa on the way to South America from Singapore, I really wouldn't mind flying via BCN. I have friends in BCN with close ties to Brasil and vice versa, so potentially will be able to meet up with them which is not possible when I flew MH to EZE via JNB and CPT or now with EK nonstop from DXB.

[SQalMundo]

The Spanish comments at the end of the article are hilarious!

So, I gather that Spanair doesn't really have its own resources to fly to GRU, but would welcome an SQ/*A codeshare (I never really understood how or why Spanair is part of *A other than SK had something to do with it).

I think that's a win-win for all parties concerned: the bottomline is that SQ, Spanair and BCN all get direct flights to Brazil.

Wait a minute...the article said SQ's flight to Milan will continue to Madrid when flights to Barcelona becomes direct (i.e. SIN-MXP-MAD)! Or is the stopover Barcelona? I'm confused.

3rd paragraph
("Singapore ha anunciado esta semana que estudia eliminar la escala técnica en Milán de este vuelo y prolongarlo hasta Madrid./Singapore announced this week that studies eliminate the stop in Milan and extend the flight to Madrid.")

[SQMilan]

I think SIN-BCN-MAD...

[B727]

Wait a minute...the article said SQ's flight to Milan will continue to Madrid when flights to Barcelona becomes direct (i.e. SIN-MXP-MAD)! Or is the stopover Barcelona? I'm confused.

3rd paragraph
("Singapore ha anunciado esta semana que estudia eliminar la escala técnica en Milán de este vuelo y prolongarlo hasta Madrid./Singapore announced this week that studies eliminate the stop in Milan and extend the flight to Madrid.")

Indeed. Why that sentence would appear in an article entitled "Spanair quiere volar hasta Sao Paulo con Singapore airlines" is curious.

No tiene sentido, non c'e senso, it doesn't make sense

[B727]

Thanks to Google translate, here's the translated text of:-
http://www.sepla.es/website/seplacms..._pdf=1&id=3474

Singapore Airlines battle for the Barcelona-São Paulo route
Monday, 30 November 2009
La Vanguardia
Aintzane Gastesi - Barcelona. The Asian carrier Singapore Airlines is studying various strategies to expand its
presence at the airport of Barcelona. The most ambitious plan deck is set up in El Prat scale of its
new Singapore-São Paulo route, which for travelers from the Catalan capital would have two advantages. On the one
hand, reduce travel time between Barcelona and Singapore, by removing the technical stop in Milan. And
another, would open a direct route to Sao Paulo, now only possible by indirect routes with a stop in Madrid, Lisbon or some
European capitals.


The opening of this route is one of the preferred targets of the Asian company, as has already opened
negotiations with the ministries of Development of Singapore, Spain and Brazil to sign the trilateral agreement
should govern such flights involving the three countries. "The viability of this route via Barcelona has a high
percentage chance of success ", say company sources, but note that other airports as
Frankfurt also are among the options.
Currently there are no direct flights between Barcelona and São Paulo, even though Brazil is one of the economies
emerging and that the path moves 50,000 passengers each year with high purchasing power, mainly in travel
business and a high rate of business class travelers, according to industry data.
Still, according to company sources, if the three-way negotiations are prolonged, the strategy for
Barcelona airport will pass a plan B, in which El Prat also exercise the functions of hub connection
internationally. The alternative route is to extend the flight to Barajas Madrid to attract passengers and compete with
Iberia.
Both options provide for the relocation of the existing base of Milan to Barcelona airport, which will involve
increase staffing company in El Prat, and mount operations of its aircraft maintenance and
catering for their flights. In addition, personnel who operate their flights, both pilots and cabin crew, will
a base at the airfield Catalan.
The Asian airline is in preliminary talks to operate code-share with Spanair, which will
bring traffic to the Spanish domestic market routes to Singapore and to São Paulo. Terence Lim, new
CEO of the company in Spain and Portugal, says that "the route of the company to Barcelona continues
maturing and growing at the pace expected. "He explains that since the company headquarters have marked the
Prat as a point of growth in full recession.

"Three-way negotiations", eh?

Hope this materializes in a three-way hook up between BCN (Spanair), SIN (SQ), and GRU (Brasil)!