Singapore a great destination for Pakistani airlines

[Amaad Lone]

Singapore Airlines does not fly into Pakistan.

That makes it a great partner for a Pakistani airline that can hit Singapore and connect out of its amazing network to Australia, Far East and even the US west Coast.

Two A321-Neos in a two class layout could easily do the Singapore route twice daily out of Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi connecting to its world wide network.

[Karachi Aviator]

I personally think that since PIA has no money to lease or buy more aircrafts, it should bring back some of the grounded a320s and operate them to these medium haul sectors with lesser seats and a better leg space. a321LR is a great option and certainly better than the a320 but I don't see PIA affording such an aircraft in the near future.

Singapore is a great option for PIA and for the private carriers as well but will a top tier airline like Singapore Airlines be interested in working with PIA?

EU and the Far East market, BOTH are quite similar as there are different pockets from where PIA can attract passengers, both markets need a similar strategy of creating 1-2 hubs and working with airlines through codeshare and interlined operations.

In the far east we have: Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia and extended operations to Australia and New Zealand

In EU we have: Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands and extended operations to US and Canada.

It's clear that with such a small fleet, PIA can't fly to all of these stations hence there has to be a one-stop solution.

Singapore, Kuala-Lumpur and Tokyo are three good options to make a hub in east-asia

Paris, Frankfurt and Istanbul are good options to be made a hub in the European region.

The biggest issue is to convince airlines based out of these hubs to codeshare / interline with PIA and also the availability of landing slots needs to be looked at.

[TomcatTask]

Would Bangkok not be the preferred option for such a strategy? Pretty well centrally located for Asia ops and I think PIA already has agreements with Thai Airways (though i could be wrong).

[Amaad Lone]

Would Bangkok not be the preferred option for such a strategy? Pretty well centrally located for Asia ops and I think PIA already has agreements with Thai Airways (though i could be wrong).

Thai operating nearly 20 flights a week carrying Pakistani passengers across its network, why would they cooperate with PIA or a private Pakistani airline.

Since SIA does not fly to Pakistan, they might agree to a code share with a Pakistani airline but obviously the any airline that takes such a step will have to improve their their standards.

[Amaad Lone]

Singapore is a great option for PIA and for the private carriers as well but will a top tier airline like Singapore Airlines be interested in working with PIA?

Very true SIA is a top ranked airline and no Pakistani airline comes close to it, that is why maybe this route being operated by new aircraft, excellent frequency and on time departure and arrival plus an upgraded cabin service can make it happen. SIA will not mind the extra traffic that a Pakistani airline brings to its network.

[flightmaestro]

Operating direct flights to Singapore will not be economically viable for Pakistani Airlines, as we do not have enough passenger load to fill a B777 aircraft (340 seats), even if it flies just once a week. Additionally, it’s costly to maintain an operational setup at Changi Airport Singapore, which includes ground handling, technical/engineering teams, ticketing and passenger services, and fuel costs.

PIA already has codeshare partnership with Malaysia Airlines which adds Southeast Asian region and Australasia region to its network via Kuala Lumpur.

[Karachi Aviator]

Operating direct flights to Singapore will not be economically viable for Pakistani Airlines, as we do not have enough passenger load to fill a B777 aircraft (340 seats), even if it flies just once a week. Additionally, it’s costly to maintain an operational setup at Changi Airport Singapore, which includes ground handling, technical/engineering teams, ticketing and passenger services, and fuel costs.

PIA already has codeshare partnership with Malaysia Airlines which adds Southeast Asian region and Australasia region to its network via Kuala Lumpur.

Not sure about the operational setup at Singapore Airport or it's costs but of course if it's a one weekly flight, it won't be filled up. Passengers demand more frequencies (ideally daily flights). The flight is mainly supposed to be filled up by passengers who'll transit onwards from Singapore and not by those passengers who's end destination is Singapore, the traffic between Pakistan and Singapore is not as high as other countries so most of them will connecting to Australia, US, Japan etc.

Secondly, the agreement with Malaysian Airlines is not a codeshare but rather an interline agreement. I think PIA isn't able to exploit this opportunity properly with only 2-3 weekly flights from Islamabad / Lahore and no flights from Karachi. If PIA can further expand this agreement with Malaysian airlines, adding more destinations to it and maybe turning it into a proper codeshare agreement, it might pay off given increased frequencies and flights from other Cities as well.

Singapore is still a better option because SIA is ten times better than MH in terms of on board product and services and not to forget that SIA has a much larger network such as flights to US west coast whilst MH doesn't even fly to US.

[AviationLover2020]

Why would any passenger choose to fly a 6.5 hr leg on PIA in a crammed narrowbody without IFE, with poor service and a great risk of baggage being lost when they can fly the entire journey to the US or Australia on one of the Middle Eastern carriers or Thai? I personally know dozens of people who refuse to fly the PIA-Turkish route to Europe despite it sometimes being cheaper, simply because nobody wants to deal with the hassle in Istanbul if the PIA flight is (as always) delayed/cancelled and the connection is missed. Everybody knows PIA's ground service is terrible, and this is exacerbated at medium-sized outstations like Istanbul or (Singapore). Unless the cost savings are massive, or the flight time saved is significant, I cannot see a reason why pax would prefer flying a mish-mashed route with one leg on a notoriously unreliable and uncomfortable airline.

PIA's USP has always been direct and cheap flights - why deviate from this? If you're going to force pax to go via a stopover, why should pax not choose a more luxurious and reliable option?

[flightmaestro]

I sincerely hope that direct flights between Pakistan and Singapore resume soon, ideally by a Pakistani airline or, even better, by Singapore Airlines. PIA ceased operations to Singapore in 2007, and SIA stopped flying to Karachi and Lahore in February 2010. There is significant potential for these routes to boost tourism in Pakistan, and it's equally important for both countries to strengthen economic ties. I hope this matter is discussed by the relevant government authorities to facilitate the return of direct flights.

[Amaad Lone]

Why would any passenger choose to fly a 6.5 hr leg on PIA in a crammed narrowbody without IFE, with poor service and a great risk of baggage being lost when they can fly the entire journey to the US or Australia on one of the Middle Eastern carriers or Thai?

Yes true Pakistani airlines do not offer good service in terms of aircraft, or onboard service compared to Middle East airilnes and Thai.

But if you notice I do mention that this service should be operated by an aircraft like the A321-Neo which can be laid out in 16/170 layout and with proper IFE onboard. Its worth a shot, if a code share with SIA can work it can earn profits for the airline.

[London Flyer]

Singapore operates narrow body jets now for the first time in a while including 737MAX. Would those have enough range to operate to Pakistan?

Gerry’s also did a soft launch for Singapore last year. Maybe someone on the forum knows if the longer term plan is to bring Pakistan stations back online?

[flightmaestro]

Scoot, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines has Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A320. Both of these aircrafts can operate on this route.

[AviationLover2020]

Yes true Pakistani airlines do not offer good service in terms of aircraft, or onboard service compared to Middle East airilnes and Thai.

But if you notice I do mention that this service should be operated by an aircraft like the A321-Neo which can be laid out in 16/170 layout and with proper IFE onboard. Its worth a shot, if a code share with SIA can work it can earn profits for the airline.

I hope if something like this is implemented that your suggestion is followed. Unfortunately PIA management seems to think they can use 15-year-old leased narrowbodies with no IFE and broken seats to attract pax, and the airline seems to have given up completely on premium demand. It is baffling why they have done this, but who understands the great wisdom of PIA management?

[London Flyer]

Incidentally Karachi is showing as a destination on Singapore airlines website so I imagine a resumption is in the works

[danyal77W]

Incidentally Karachi is showing as a destination on Singapore airlines website so I imagine a resumption is in the works

No, it does not. I just checked.