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SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines (SIA) will resume flights to Dubai, Tokyo Haneda Airport, Moscow and Munich starting in January, the airline said on Friday (December 18).
It will also increase the frequency of its existing flights to various destinations in the United States, Europe and South Africa starting in January.
In a Facebook post, SIA said changes will also be made to flight schedules on its regional wing SilkAir and budget airline Scoot.
The adjustments are part of a “detailed review” to determine which airlines in the SIA Group’s portfolio are “best suited to meet the evolution of cargo and customer demand,” he said.
As a result of the changes, the Group’s passenger capacity is expected to reach around 25 percent of its pre-COVID-19 levels by the end of March next year.
READ: SIA Group reports a net loss in the first half of S $ 3.5 billion as the number of passengers falls by 98.9% amid COVID-19
READ: Comment: We must save Singapore Airlines from this existential crisis
SIA Group has been hit hard by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, due to border restrictions and closures around the world. The group has implemented general pay cuts and laid off thousands of employees.
Last month, the group reported a first-half net loss of S $ 3.5 billion, amid a “sharp drop” in passenger traffic.
Overall passenger transport in November was 97.7 percent less year-on-year, it reported Tuesday.
The group expects a “gradual recovery” in passenger operations as countries and regions explore ways to reopen borders safely, with the proper protocols in place, it added on Tuesday.
Advances in vaccine production and distribution also support “growing optimism” about the possible recovery in air travel, the group said.
Earlier this month, SIA said it would prioritize cargo capacity to transport COVID-19 vaccines when they become available.
READ: SIA scraps ‘flight to nowhere’ plan, launches limited airline meal service, tours and food delivery at home
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SOME ROUTES IN SCOOT, SUSPENDED SILKAIR
As part of the review, Scoot’s services to Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Perth will be temporarily suspended, while SIA and SilkAir will increase their frequencies on those routes, SIA said on Friday.
At the same time, SIA and SilkAir will temporarily suspend services to Penang, Surabaya and Taipei, while Scoot will operate to these destinations on higher frequencies.
READ: SIA to restart flights to New York amid ‘first signs of optimism’ in air travel recovery
Flights originally scheduled for December through March, but not listed in flight schedules, will be canceled and customers will be informed via SMS and email about the cancellations, SIA said.
Customers of canceled flights will keep the full value of the unused portion of their tickets as flight credits, the airline said. Additional flight credits will also be awarded when your flights are rebooked.
SIA previously added Brunei, Fukuoka, New York and Shenzhen to its network, bringing its total to 36 cities, while SilkAir added Kathmandu to its list of destinations.
