Singapore Airlines to review Singapore to Canberra to Wellington route

Singapore Airlines has announced a review of its international flights to and from Canberra, but the company insists it remains committed to the region. The airline's Singapore to Canberra to Wellington rotation has run four times a week since the first flight touched down in Canberra on September 21 last year. Federal government figures show passengers getting on and off the Singapore Airline flights in Canberra have been filling about half the available seats to and from Singapore and 25% to and from Wellington. However, December figures show on average 37% of the 266 seats from Singapore to Canberra were occupied by people travelling to the national capital. Other seats were filled by passengers travelling straight through from Singapore to Wellington. Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the ACT Government had expected to share in the economic benefit of the flights when lobbying for the route. "The Wellington connection is important for the economics of the service, there's no doubting that," he said. "Those New Zealand passengers who transit through Canberra certainly assist in filling a plane that size. But from our perspective, sitting in the middle of the route, we get a direct to Wellington and a direct service to Singapore." Singapore Airlines spokesman Karl Schubert said the routes had produced "encouraging" growth. Canberra Airport CEO Stephen Byron said the results were beyond expectations. "The passenger numbers are tracking above our projections," he said.<br/>