SIN-BCN-GRU Approved; First Flight March 2011

[MAN Flyer]

Is this now the world's longest flight at 12209 miles ?.

[SQueeze]

Is this now the world's longest flight at 12209 miles ?.

Unfortunately, flying the route only earns 9961 miles, which is a little more than flying to Houston (9925 miles). SQ uses the Great Circle distance to award qualifying miles. Unless of course one adds a stopover in BCN, which is SGD200, I think.

Not sure if SQ67/68 is the world's longest flight. As per Star Alliance website NZ1, LHR to AKL is 11900+ miles. And Air Austral from Reunion runs a flight from Paris to Reunion to Sydney then to New Caledonia under the same flight number. This route could be longer than SQ's since it is quite circuitous.

[MAN Flyer]

Unfortunately, flying the route only earns 9961 miles, which is a little more than flying to Houston (9925 miles). SQ uses the Great Circle distance to award qualifying miles. Unless of course one adds a stopover in BCN, which is SGD200, I think.

That's funny, as I flew the route a couple of weeks ago and got a lot more than 9961 miles. Maybe I'd better keep quiet about it in case they realise the mistake...

[SQueeze]

That's funny, as I flew the route a couple of weeks ago and got a lot more than 9961 miles. Maybe I'd better keep quiet about it in case they realise the mistake...

Well, I have not flown the route but the accrual calculator in their website says 9961 miles (before J/F and other bonuses).

How reliable is the calculator in the website?

[wktan81]

Can anyone advise me how is the performance of this route? What is the average load factor of SQ67/68?

[brette]

Rumours are that Qatar Airways is taking a 49% stake in Spanair.
Could this affect the cooperation between SIA and Spanair?

This news came just a few days after "another" rumour: SIA would increase the GRU run to daily somewhere next year as the loads are very good.

What to believe?

[9V-JKL]

I doubt it will impact SQ's flight unless QR decides to fly BCN-GRU itself or JK is going to get bigger planes from QR to do it themselves.

[brette]

Bad news from Barcelona:Spanair has ceased all operations since yesterday evening (Jan 27, 2012) and is filing for bankruptcy.

This begs for the question: Does this affect SIA's flight to Sao Paulo?
I think the GRU traffic rights were granted to Spanair, or at least
to Spanair/SIA, but not to SIA as stand alone company.

Anybody with insight?

[Kyo]

Yes, horrible news about JK there. Interested to learn also.

[SQ228]

I feel for the staff who worked for them. The queues at Spanish employment agencies are already out of control- the last thing they need is to have to join onto the end of one.

Some good news I suppose:
"For customers holding Spanair tickets issued on or before 28 January 2012 for travel on Singapore Airlines-operated flights, Singapore Airlines will honour bookings and continue to uplift customers."

You would hope that any government authority would see sense and leave the current agreement in place, but given the unfortunate state of Spain, anything is possible. Iberian began flying to GRU in March last year, so it wouldn't be surprising if International Airlines Group is currently lobbying key politicians.

[SQ_SIA]

SQ's head quarters must be going crazy now.........Isnt the reason why SQ was permited to fly into GRU was if they codeshare with a Spanish carrier? Now that JK is gone who will they code share with?

[ragnar]

Crikey! I just booked a one-way for my son on SQ 67 GRU - BCN last night - the confirmations came back dated 28th January, the flight is on the 29th May.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens now. I was quite surprised to see the P seats in economy all wide open - went for 31C. But now it's allup in the air. (excuse the pun).

Ragnar

[SQueeze]

If I recall correctly, 31C is not emergency exit row on the 777-300ER. I don't think ther is extra legroom so it may not be a P row in the first place.

Anyway, I was on the same flight as your son - in J. Quite a quiet cabin, it was no more than 30% filled. Not sure about Y. On the BCN-SIN sector, not much better in J but the pax changed. Very few flew all the way to Singapore.

F was 3 pax: 1 tech crew, 1 appeared to be the station manager, 1 was his friend / sister. So all 3 were non-revenue.

[9V-JKL]

31C is EMEX row seat

[AsiaCommuter]

I feel for the staff who worked for them. The queues at Spanish employment agencies are already out of control- the last thing they need is to have to join onto the end of one.

Some good news I suppose:
"For customers holding Spanair tickets issued on or before 28 January 2012 for travel on Singapore Airlines-operated flights, Singapore Airlines will honour bookings and continue to uplift customers."

You would hope that any government authority would see sense and leave the current agreement in place, but given the unfortunate state of Spain, anything is possible. Iberian began flying to GRU in March last year, so it wouldn't be surprising if International Airlines Group is currently lobbying key politicians.

A very reliable source from SQ operations in Barcelona today confirmed the route is not in jeopardy. Yes, the route was granted based upon a code with Spanair for political reasons. However the Spanish authorities have informed SIA that the route can continue to operate as normal without the support from Spanair. This route is also very important for Barcelona el Prat airport.

I have no reason to doubt this information, my source was correct well in advance of the rumours for the starting of this route in the first instance.

Personally this is a relief as I have a huge list of bookings from GRU to NRT until the end of the year which I did not fancy re-arranging...