Singapore Airlines has just confirmed it will start flying between Wellington and Canberra, launching in September. The airline will link the two cities for the first time with a four times a week service that will fly on to Singapore. It is the first time the two Australasian cities have been linked and is a coup for both as they expand international operations. Singapore Airlines has dubbed the service the "Capital Express" and it is aimed at the lucrative government and corporate market more likely to fly in business class seats and the leisure market, particularly Kiwis who want to connect with the airline's network in Asia. The new flights will be operated using 266-seat retrofitted Boeing 777-200 aircraft, that has 38 business class seats and 228 economy class seats. <br/>
star
Virgin Australia will bolster its position in the lucrative business and government travellers market in Canberra with a codesharing agreement for its partner Singapore Airlines' new flights from the nation's capital to Singapore. Virgin boss John Borghetti flew to Canberra Wednesday to join Singapore Airlines' CE Goh Choon Phong at a formal announcement of the flights. Singapore Airlines, one of the largest shareholders in Virgin, will begin four weekly flights with a Boeing 777-200 aircraft from September. The Singapore-Canberra flights, which will continue on to Wellington, are the first international services Canberra Airport has secured after a long-running campaign with government backing. The flights, which include 38 semi-flat business class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration and 228 economy class seats in a 3-3-3 configuration, will be red-eyes in both directions, making them convenient for business and government travellers. Singapore Airlines offers connections throughout Asia and Europe through its hub at Changi Airport. Virgin, which has a trans-Tasman partnership with Air New Zealand, has not announced plans to codeshare on the Canberra-Wellington flights at this stage.<br/>
In conjunction with Singapores’ mobile provider M1 Limited and SITA’s Mobile OnAir, Singapore Airlines will introduce unlimited in-flight mobile data roaming on its flights. M1’s customers will have inflight data roaming charges capped at $17.50 per day (S$25). “With this new in-flight data roaming service, travellers can stay in touch with their loved ones, answer important e-mail or simply get the latest social media updates,” said P. Subramaniam, Chief Marketing Officer, M1. SITA’s Mobile OnAir service offers global coverage which passengers can use to call, text or for mobile data applications in-flight. On average, 37% of the airline’s customers connect to the onboard mobile network. A total of 19m passengers took advantage of the service in 2015 and 65% of passengers who connected to SITAOnAir’s mobile network, used the service for data applications. “We want to make it very simple and offer transparent prices for passengers to use their phones during flights,” said François Rodriguez from SITA OnAir. <br/>