Singapore brings forward Perth frequency increase

Singapore Airlines on Friday increased the frequency of services from its home base to Perth by adding four more services per week. The carrier previously flew three times a day, seven days a week, but will now add a fourth flight on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The news will add competition for other airlines operating the route, including subsidiary Scoot, which flies 12 times a week, and Qantas, which flies once daily. Singapore will use its fleet of A350-900s on the extra flights, adding 220,584 more seats annually. It comes months before a planned increase was due to occur next year. Australian Aviation has reported regularly this year how international aviation in 2023 overtook domestic in its pandemic recovery. Domestic aviation initially recovered to near pre-pandemic levels last year but subsequently recorded some of the worst delays and cancellations in history as staff shortages and COVID isolation took hold. This year has presented a very different story. Weeks ago, for example, Sydney Airport revealed it had doubled its international traffic in the last 12 months. In October, 1.3m passengers passed through the international terminal, representing a 90.3% recovery from the same month in 2019. However, the airport’s domestic COVID-19 recovery currently stands at just 87.6%, despite domestic services not dealing with issues of international border closures and restrictions. Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert has consistently blamed alleged slot hoarding by the major airlines as a reason for the airport’s sluggish domestic recovery, an accusation Qantas and Virgin have vehemently denied.<br/>