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  • #31
    Originally posted by SQ228 View Post
    I'm just glad to see somebody at head office had the sense to finally turn this situation around and try to get Singapore Airlines being talked about again amongst Melbourne residents.
    Unfortunately it's not how it works. Firstly, load factors != yields. It makes more financial sense to deploy a smaller aircraft which can go out full of pax and cargo rather than a larger aircraft which isn't full. Don't forget this has to happen everyday and not a one off thing. SQ has a very conservative policy of rostering flights. If it's 7x 388 it will be 7x 388 unless the aircraft goes tech and gets substituted. It's rare to see 3x 388, 2x 77W and 2x 773 which is rather prevalent with some of the European carriers. SQ could have done 3x 388 and 4x 744 for MEL but it's not the way they do things.

    SQ's willingness to sacrifice MEL for the past 12 months is a rather clear indication that it's one of the weaker 388 markets. SQ has total dominance on SIN-AKL and the 77W could have been easily sacrificed and swapped to an antiquated 744 but this didn't happen. Likewise the redeye 388 to SYD could have been easily swapped to MEL instead as the sector times are similar but this didn't happen as well.

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    • #32
      Originally posted by Nick C View Post
      Unfortunately it's not how it works. Firstly, load factors != yields. It makes more financial sense to deploy a smaller aircraft which can go out full of pax and cargo rather than a larger aircraft which isn't full. Don't forget this has to happen everyday and not a one off thing. SQ has a very conservative policy of rostering flights. If it's 7x 388 it will be 7x 388 unless the aircraft goes tech and gets substituted. It's rare to see 3x 388, 2x 77W and 2x 773 which is rather prevalent with some of the European carriers. SQ could have done 3x 388 and 4x 744 for MEL but it's not the way they do things.

      SQ's willingness to sacrifice MEL for the past 12 months is a rather clear indication that it's one of the weaker 388 markets. SQ has total dominance on SIN-AKL and the 77W could have been easily sacrificed and swapped to an antiquated 744 but this didn't happen. Likewise the redeye 388 to SYD could have been easily swapped to MEL instead as the sector times are similar but this didn't happen as well.
      I cannot really agree with you Nick C, but do understand your reasoning.

      I honestly just think MEL is a victim of being a short A380 flight from Singapore, and not a destination that seems to fit into any of their rotations all that easily.

      To me MEL gets the short end of the stick more so because of those reasons rather than load factors. Every single time I have flown SQ out of MEL the plane is almost bursting, not only economy but business also, I cannot comment on suites as I have not flown in them out of MEL.

      I would be interested in anyone that has flown to/from MEL in the last 12 months to comment on how full the plane was.

      I am certainly willing to bet MEL will eventually be serviced by 2 A380's, maybe even as early as late this year but for sure once SQ have all their orders fulfilled.

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      • #33
        I dont know I have all but stopped using them! I prefer Thai in Y class out of Melbourne
        My SQ and flying Videos: Youtube My Travel Blog: AussieFlyer.net

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        • #34
          Originally posted by SQ238 View Post
          I cannot really agree with you Nick C, but do understand your reasoning.

          I honestly just think MEL is a victim of being a short A380 flight from Singapore, and not a destination that seems to fit into any of their rotations all that easily.

          To me MEL gets the short end of the stick more so because of those reasons rather than load factors. Every single time I have flown SQ out of MEL the plane is almost bursting, not only economy but business also, I cannot comment on suites as I have not flown in them out of MEL.

          I would be interested in anyone that has flown to/from MEL in the last 12 months to comment on how full the plane was.

          I am certainly willing to bet MEL will eventually be serviced by 2 A380's, maybe even as early as late this year but for sure once SQ have all their orders fulfilled.
          Yes, I can't agree either. I realise that it all boils down to money, but MEL flights are always packed solid. Every flight I've done from MEL - SIN and vv has had only a handful of empty seats anywhere on the plane. I contrast this with a lot of European destinations I've flown to where the flight has been only 70% full. I've even flown SIN-AMS where it was less than 25% full!

          I will also make another point again that everybody seems to keep ignoring- MEL passengers make a lot of connections to Europe, Asia and India. We have massive Italian, Greek, Indian and Asian communities here. If flights from MEL are consistently booked out, especially in peak seasons, then we can't get to SIN to help fill their empty seats to Europe et al. Result? Melbourne residents and businesses switch to other carriers and slowly over time, yields drop.

          I think the problem they've had with MEL and the A380 is that the loadings on return flights don't match up. SQ217 is always a popular flight with never a spare seat when I've flown it, but SQ218 probably wouldn't fill up an A380 for most of the week as there's not much it connects to.

          SQ228 connects to so many destinations at Changi, but they couldn't spare an A380 sitting around MEL for 9 hours, which is understandable. Now they have a bigger fleet of them, things might work out better.

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          • #35
            Originally posted by sqdazz View Post
            I dont know I have all but stopped using them! I prefer Thai in Y class out of Melbourne
            Yes they have lost some of my business to TG also.

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            • #36
              Great news that the A380 is back to MEL

              Flew Emirates in J recently (for the first time in years) and it's just not SQ.... even the A380 seat on Emirates is just not SQ.....

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              • #37
                My booking for SQ228 in July 2012 is now showing as A380.

                The singaporeair.com website for flight schedule and commercial booking has now been updated as below for July 2012.

                SQ237 SIN0045 – 1005MEL 773 D
                SQ217 SIN0955 – 1915MEL 77W D
                SQ227 SIN2100 – 0620+1MEL 388 D

                SQ218 MEL0005 – 0555SIN 77W D
                SQ238 MEL1020 – 1610SIN 773 D
                SQ228 MEL1545 – 2145SIN 388 D

                15mins turnaround time for SQ217/SQ238. Woohooo!
                Last edited by slacker; 12 January 2012, 06:35 PM. Reason: Typo error SQ238 timings

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                • #38
                  Originally posted by slacker View Post
                  My booking for SQ228 in July 2012 is now showing as A380.

                  The singaporeair.com website for flight schedule and commercial booking has now been updated as below for July 2012.

                  SQ237 SIN0045 – 1005MEL 773 D
                  SQ217 SIN0955 – 1915MEL 77W D
                  SQ227 SIN2100 – 0620+1MEL 388 D

                  SQ218 MEL0005 – 0555SIN 77W D
                  SQ238 MEL1020 – 1710SIN 773 D
                  SQ228 MEL1545 – 2145SIN 388 D

                  15mins turnaround time for SQ217/SQ238. Woohooo!
                  I think it's an error and that SQ238 should read 1120 departure.

                  If that's not the case, then SQ238 is taking an extra hour compared with SQ218 and SQ228.

                  My guess is that somebody edited the arrival and departure times at MEL to change from DST to winter time but perhaps missed that one. Flight times to MEL are always set in Singapore time then adjusted when we change our time zone locally.

                  Or maybe they are just tired of people sleeping in and arriving an hour later at the airport than they should...

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                  • #39
                    Originally posted by SQ228 View Post
                    I think it's an error and that SQ238 should read 1120 departure.

                    If that's not the case, then SQ238 is taking an extra hour compared with SQ218 and SQ228.

                    My guess is that somebody edited the arrival and departure times at MEL to change from DST to winter time but perhaps missed that one. Flight times to MEL are always set in Singapore time then adjusted when we change our time zone locally.

                    Or maybe they are just tired of people sleeping in and arriving an hour later at the airport than they should...
                    Sorry, typo error:
                    It should be:
                    SQ238 MEL1020 – 1610SIN 773 D

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                    • #40
                      MEL won the ultimate prize yesterday!

                      SQ217- 77W substituted with the oldest 744- SPJ
                      SQ227- refitted 773 substituted with last remaining non-refit- SYE
                      SQ237- 744 replacing the 388 we lost to JFK- SPP

                      All 3 flights on the same day substituted with very old product that's destined to be scrapped within a couple of months.

                      At least we've pretty much hit a point where it can't get much worse I suppose. Maybe replace the 744s with old 772s with no IFE?
                      Last edited by SQ228; 29 January 2012, 07:45 AM. Reason: punctuation

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                      • #41
                        Yep that's the way SQ treats MEL passengers! It really must be because loads are either really high and the constant changing of aircraft hasn't affected numbers

                        OR

                        Numbers are really low and they just don't care, but if that was the case they would pull one of the flights...



                        Oh, SQ237 just landing in MEL at the moment 9V-SPP

                        Comment


                        • #42
                          Originally posted by FlyBoy View Post
                          Yep that's the way SQ treats MEL passengers! It really must be because loads are either really high and the constant changing of aircraft hasn't affected numbers
                          That's the reason. There have been many reports that tickets in and out of MEL have been unavailable for various periods of this month. I've never been on a flight to/from MEL where the loading was less than 80%. I've been on plenty where it would have been above 95%, especially SQ228 and SQ217.

                          It does seem to be affecting growth long-term though. While capacity had to be added to BNE and PER, no additional capacity has been added to MEL, even though record numbers of Australians are flying overseas. The numbers are so high that Australian consular services around the globe have been stretched to capacity.

                          MEL travellers are switching to SQ's competitors because they can't get seats at a reasonable price and if they can, they get pushed into old product at the last minute after being told they would get the latest. Planes with no AVOD, no USB ports- two of the things SQ markets themselves with and modern travellers expect. JQ would provide a better flying experience than this.

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                          • #43
                            I flew back into MEL on SQ227 on the 20th of Jan, I am not sure of exact figures for First and Economy but the 50 Business seats were 100% occupied, as I am sure the rest of the plane was.

                            If you fly into/out of MEL can you please give us an idea of how full the plane was, I have never flown in/out of MEL when the plane hasn't been nearly bursting.

                            To prove the changes are not a load affected thing, rather just MEL being the unlucky city closest to SIN that SQ considers long haul for their biggest airplanes, I am willing to stick to my arguement that MEL will have two A380's once their order has been filled.
                            Last edited by SQ238; 29 January 2012, 11:46 AM.

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                            • #44
                              yes MEL flights have good loads ave easily 80% - but as for usinmg the A380s, guess SQ/flt ops planning have their reasons. But understand from a colleague now the 2 o744s will be called into service for at least another 6 to 8 weeks bec of the downtime for the A380s being repairs works on the cracked wing spars bolts which takes between 1.5 to 3 days for each aircraft depending on the number of cracks on the plane's wings.

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                              • #45
                                Originally posted by SQ238 View Post
                                I am willing to stick to my arguement that MEL will
                                have two A380's once their order has been filled.
                                I agree, it was be 2 x A380 and 1 x 77W
                                OR
                                2 x 77W and 1 x A380

                                Either way, as long as it's either of those, it's fine with me !

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