Messing around with MEL

[Metropolitan Airlines]

not sure whether i see wrongly, but i saw seat utilization of 90% for SQ between New Zealand and Australia... (page 19).

Sorry my bad. It would have been 30% loading if SQ247/248 is daily...

[SQ228]

According to the official Australian Government data, which can be accessed here:

https://bitre.gov.au/publications/on...ivity_1901.pdf

We observe the following:

• SIN-MEL has surpassed SIN-SYD to become the busiest international route of Australia.
• Overall shows 7% increase for SQ which on this rate, we should see SQ to increase Australia by at least 1x daily every year to cope with the demand.

I think SQ should consider these:

• Merge SQ247, 248, 257 and 258 into one daily service to MEL with A380
• Reroute SQ 288 to CBR via MEL
• Re-time SQ 212 to 22:00 - 23:00 departure ex-SYD
• Introduce new 6th daily to Sydney, departing SIN at 9:35am, arrive SYD at 8:15pm, then depart SYD at 22:40 and arrive AKL at 04:15
• Return leg from AKL departs at 05:30 and arrive SYD at 07:05, then depart SYD at 08:55 and arrive SIN at 14:15.
• The only red-eye service from East Coast Australia to NZ is the JQ217 leaving Melbourne. I believe the new SQ red eye service to AKL will be a lot successful than MEL-WLG. Moreover, the 05:30 departure from AKL will enable NZ passengers to arrive Sydney before 9am, which benefits greatly for business travellers ex-AKL.

SYD has a curfew which has always presented issues for operating a red-eye in the past, hence SQ288. EK does a lot of flights between AKL and east coast of Australia, whereas WLG is a niche market of sorts. MEL presents challenges in allocating A380s because there is often mismatched demand between the two timeslots of a flight pair which is what caused them to park an aircraft for 10 hours each day at MEL up until recently. In general I'm glad MEL is finally getting the attention of airlines who only bothered looking after SYD for so long.

[sbs2716g]

Sorry my bad. It would have been 30% loading if SQ247/248 is daily...

How you know it will be 30% if it is daily?

[wlgspotter]

SYD has a curfew which has always presented issues for operating a red-eye in the past, hence SQ288. EK does a lot of flights between AKL and east coast of Australia, whereas WLG is a niche market of sorts. MEL presents challenges in allocating A380s because there is often mismatched demand between the two timeslots of a flight pair which is what caused them to park an aircraft for 10 hours each day at MEL up until recently. In general I'm glad MEL is finally getting the attention of airlines who only bothered looking after SYD for so long.

Actually, Sir, up until sometime last year, EK had up to 4x daily flights into AKL (4x A380s I believe). 3 of them are Trans Tasman flights as tag onto their Australian flights ex DXB, i.e. DXB-BNE-AKL, DXB-SYD-AKL & DXB-MEL-AKL. The lone non Trans Tasman flight is their non-stop, direct DXB-AKL flight.
In addition, they also operated DXB-DPS-AKL, that was reduced from daily to about 3-5 times weekly now.

However, in the past year (or two), they've progressively removed all their Trans Tasman flights, preferring to keep the aircraft on the ground in BNE/SYD/MEL and / or rejigging their return flight schedules so that the aircraft doesn't have to remain on the ground for too long. I appears the economics of allowing the aircraft to sit on the ground out-weighs them operating the Trans Tasman sector. They are now operating only the DXB-AKL (daily A380) and DXB-DPS-AKL (77W).

According to the official Australian Government data, which can be accessed here:

https://bitre.gov.au/publications/on...ivity_1901.pdf

We observe the following:

• SIN-MEL has surpassed SIN-SYD to become the busiest international route of Australia.
• Overall shows 7% increase for SQ which on this rate, we should see SQ to increase Australia by at least 1x daily every year to cope with the demand.

I think SQ should consider these:

• Merge SQ247, 248, 257 and 258 into one daily service to MEL with A380
• Reroute SQ 288 to CBR via MEL
• Re-time SQ 212 to 22:00 - 23:00 departure ex-SYD
• Introduce new 6th daily to Sydney, departing SIN at 9:35am, arrive SYD at 8:15pm, then depart SYD at 22:40 and arrive AKL at 04:15
• Return leg from AKL departs at 05:30 and arrive SYD at 07:05, then depart SYD at 08:55 and arrive SIN at 14:15.
• The only red-eye service from East Coast Australia to NZ is the JQ217 leaving Melbourne. I believe the new SQ red eye service to AKL will be a lot successful than MEL-WLG. Moreover, the 05:30 departure from AKL will enable NZ passengers to arrive Sydney before 9am, which benefits greatly for business travellers ex-AKL.

With regards to your suggestion on SQ operating SIN-SYD-AKL, whilst it appears that TT, whilst may appears to be a "lucrative" market, is actually quite a hard one too. I really can't see how SQ will make a SIN-SYD-AKL flight work against the competition, and there will be no doubt QF and NZ will protect their "home turf" with all they can. SQ and NZ may be partners, but I'm sure NZ won't be pleased having SQ on SYD-AKL. The MEL (and CBR before it) to WLG is a different story as no other carrier operates the route, and as @SQ228 indicated, that route is quite a niche. Not forgetting the times that you're suggesting, especially departing AKL @ 5:30am - they would encounter quite a bit of "resistance" as the NZ Immigration and Customs only opens at 5:00am as the current earliest flights out of AKL are around 6:00am.

Just my 2cents of thoughts...

[SQ228]

However, in the past year (or two), they've progressively removed all their Trans Tasman flights, preferring to keep the aircraft on the ground in BNE/SYD/MEL and / or rejigging their return flight schedules so that the aircraft doesn't have to remain on the ground for too long. I appears the economics of allowing the aircraft to sit on the ground out-weighs them operating the Trans Tasman sector. They are now operating only the DXB-AKL (daily A380) and DXB-DPS-AKL (77W).

Thank you for the update!

Maybe it's another example of where the A380 isn't so economical in a lot of markets. What trans-Tasman flyers want is the most direct route possible with the widest selection of timings that are viable and forcing everyone onto an A380 via SYD, AKL or both just doesn't cut it any more.

[wlgspotter]

Thank you for the update!

Maybe it's another example of where the A380 isn't so economical in a lot of markets. What trans-Tasman flyers want is the most direct route possible with the widest selection of timings that are viable and forcing everyone onto an A380 via SYD, AKL or both just doesn't cut it any more.

Yes I concur with your thinking re the suitability of the A380s on TT flights.
Speaking of which, I forgot to add that I believe EK still operates DXB-SYD-CHC vv, so they do operate at least one Trans Tasman flight...