SIN-BCN-GRU Approved; First Flight March 2011

[Nick C]

Will SIN-MXP then tag to JFK?

No plans yet.

[Nick C]

Press release

http://www.singaporeair.com/mediacen...ws/NE_2810.jsp

[Guy Betsy]

Strong rumors now. March 2011. B777-300ER.

Actually its confirmed....

http://www.relax.com.sg/relax/news/4...stination.html

[Guy Betsy]

http://www.relax.com.sg/relax/news/4...stination.html

Now it's confirmed: SQ is going to fly to South America! Secure your tickets now!

Yes but with SQ fare increases... there are many other options at hand from SIN...

QR, TK, KL, EK to name a few.

Besides, with this routing, SQ's flight actually is longer than everyone else (except of course with KL)

[zvezda]

Fair use excerpt:

"SIA currently flies daily between Singapore and Barcelona via Milan in Italy. With the new service, three of the flights will operate non-stop between Singapore and Barcelona while four will continue to operate on a Singapore-Milan-Barcelona routing.

To ensure that both Barcelona and Milan will continue to be served seven times per week, thrice-weekly non-stop Singapore-Milan services will be introduced."

I'm trying to imagine how this would all conflate. BCN-GRU is 4721nm. That means about 20 hours of round-trip flight time. Hence, a BCN-SIN flight would depart approximately 24 hours after a SIN-BCN arrived. Most likely, there would six days per week with either a non-stop SIN-BCN flight arriving BCN or a non-stop BCN-SIN departing BCN but probably never both on the same day. So ... on which four days would the MXP-BCN tag operate? Unless SQ plan to leave an aircraft parked at BCN for about 24 hours four times per week, I don't see any way to make the one-stop SIN-MXP-BCN service complement the non-stop SIN-BCN service.

[ycp81]

Looks like the scheduling department is gonna have a big headache..., One possibility is if they timed the SIN-BCN-GRU flight as a morning departure from SIN. But a morning departure would not be too favorable to business pax as a whole day would be wasted. Another possibility is to have 2x flights on certain days departing from BCN - SIN, but probably 1 morning and 1 evening flight.

[zvezda]

The only theories I have are:
- SQ intend to continue the MXP-BCN tag just until the SIN-BCN-GRU route proves itself, so as not to lose the rights which they would want to exercise if the new route were to fail, and
- the Spanish government insisted that 7x weekly (including one-stop) SIN-BCN continue as part of the deal to grant SIN-BCN-GRU rights.

[Nick C]

Looks like the scheduling department is gonna have a big headache..., One possibility is if they timed the SIN-BCN-GRU flight as a morning departure from SIN. But a morning departure would not be too favorable to business pax as a whole day would be wasted. Another possibility is to have 2x flights on certain days departing from BCN - SIN, but probably 1 morning and 1 evening flight.

This won't be a long term hindrance.

[demue]

Well it is definitely a go ahead with start in March 20111. Some (cabin crew) friends have been told they would be doing SIN-BCN-GRU next year and they are very exited about it.

[dmuller]

Scheduling is gonna be interesting. I see 2 options to keep the 7 Barcelona flight at a daily rate and keeping them at least around 10-12 hours apart (northern summer):

Option 1:
W-Bound
days 1_3_5__: SIN 1400-2130 BCN 2245-0510 GRU (arr +1day)
days _2_4_67: SIN 2345-0630 MXP 0730-0905 BCN (arr +1day)
days 1_3_5__: SIN 2345-0630 MXP (arr +1day)
E-Bound
days _2_4_6_: GRU 0805-2245 BCN 2359-1850 SIN (arr +1day)
days 1_3_5_7: BCN 1025-1205 MXP 1315-0720 SIN (arr +1day)
days _2_4_6_: MXP 1315-0720 SIN (arr +1day)

Option 2:
W-Bound
days 1_3_5__: SIN 2359-0730 BCN 0845-1510 GRU (arr +1day)
possibly delay departure of above to days 246 at 0200
days _2_4_67: SIN 0945-1620 MXP 1730-1905 BCN (arr same day)
days 1_3_5__: SIN 0945-1620 MXP (arr same day)
E-Bound
days _2_4_6_: GRU 2005-1045 BCN 1200-0650 SIN (arr +2days)
days _2_4_67: BCN 2025-2205 MXP 2315-1720 SIN (arr +1day)
days 1_3_5__: MXP 2315-1720 SIN (arr +1day)

Both options have nasty sectors, but option 1 looks relatively more pretty. Naturally, if ever GRU goes daily, the best schedule for that would be according to option 2.

Of course, there is always the third option ... have some flight very close together, possibly only 2 or 3 hours apart in arriving at BCN from SIN. That's what SQ did in the early days of its Houston flights (3x SIN-DME-IAH and 4x SIN-DXB-DME).

... unfortunately not working for SQ ...

[ycp81]

Well it is definitely a go ahead with start in March 20111. Some (cabin crew) friends have been told they would be doing SIN-BCN-GRU next year and they are very exited about it.

Haha, i guess they are more excited about the shopping in Barcelona. Currently they do not get to stay in Barcelona.

[9V-JKL]

Congratulations SQ on now being a 6-continent carrier

Looking forward to flying this route

[wobbegong]

Press release

http://www.singaporeair.com/mediacen...ws/NE_2810.jsp

Anyone of you able to view this news article from this link? I encounter a "HTTP 500 Internal Server Error". I have no problem viewing the rest of the news article.

[Kyo]

Works for me now...

[9V-JKL]

With this routing, where's the 77W going to come from?

I think they'll need 2 to work

I'm guessing LHR which will likely upgauge to A380 + possibly HKG/PEK losing the 77W.

What do you think?