Not a very pleasant position to be in, working in perpetual
fear that you could be called into your supervisor's office at any
time for the talk.
So it seems SQ isn't completely immune from the market forces
that have economically crippled so many other airlines worldwide.
Hopefully, these cuts won't adversely affect SQ's service standards
to the extent that it has for other airlines.
SQ is definitely not immune to global turn of events. In fact it
is less immune.
There are many factors. Usually in a country where there is
demand for domestic traffic(China) travel tends to be up quickly
and domestic flights are money makers if the airlines do it right.
Singapore has no domestic market.
Secondly Singapore is at the crossroads of the Kangaroo Route,
the link between Australia and Europe. This Kangaroo Route traffic
is highly profitable for SIA. However SIA is seriously affected by
this. Less people are willing to spend money travelling these days,
more so for high premium pax. Problem for SIA is magnified becoz
its fares are always at the premium compared to other airlines and
that if people on both sides refuse to travel the effect is
multiplied.
Singapore is also too far south to be an Asian hub, though it is
now to a certain extent. HKG/BKK is better suited. However
Singapore has a better biz environment. But if the Biz traffic is
the most severely affected, what does that tell you about Singapore
Airlines Biz Class loads...
SIA is a well managed airline not like Alitalia, Olympic and TAP
Air Portugal. But there are many factors that make SIA a profitable
airline. However if these factors work AGAINST the airline, one can
only expect SIA to not make normal profits.
In SIA terms, profits which are not what they use to be =
cut-cost = Retrenchments, out sourcing etc.
