SIA's link to JAL predates the carrier's expected entry into the Star Alliance.Singapore Airlines (SIA), hard on the heels of its planned cargo alliance with Lufthansa and Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), has announced further co-operation with Japan Airlines (JAL).
The carrier has also announced a new freighter destination and changes to its cargo network.
SIA and JAL began their co-operation last November with a weekly B747-200F operated by JAL between Singapore and Tokyo. From April 9 it was increased to three times weekly with the addition of another B747-200F from JAL and a B747-400F from SIA.
The existing service has flourished, in particular with seafood and chilled meat flown outward to Japan, according to SIA executives.
It is known that SIA has been trying to get freighter slots at Tokyo's jam-packed Narita Airport, and this alliance with JAL may well be a way of effectively accomplishing this. The boost to this trade will be timely for SIA, as its 747-400Fs come on-stream and as the airline finds new markets for them.
In February, for instance, freight carried by SIA rose an impressive 10.3 per cent to 59.8 million kilograms (compared to February 1998) but cargo load factor declined 2.3 percentage points to 65.5 per cent, a reflection of the huge new capacity brought on by the new planes. Cargo capacity now stands at 1.2 billion tonne-kilometres.
A seventh B747-400F is due for delivery in September, however the postponement of some passenger plane deliveries and its resultant reduction in bellyhold capacity may enable the load factor figure to stabilise.
Meanwhile, the planned cargo alliance with Lufthansa and SAS continues to be formulated, and it is expected that Thai Airways International (THAI) may become a fourth member of the grouping. Lufthansa Cargo already has code-sharing agreements with both THAI and SIA.
SIA is also still understood to be interested in buying a stake in THAI in a joint bid with Lufthansa, although there are political problems due to a government directive that THAI should not have strategic partners that are also competitors.
If THAI becomes a strategic partner with SIA on cargo operations, then presumably this clause would be made redundant, something that is likely to occur anyway if and when SIA finally joins the Star Alliance, a move that is expected to happen sometime this year.
The new cargo destination for SIA as from September this year will be Prestwick, on Scotland's west coast. The weekly routing will be Singapore, Sharjah, Prestwick, Copenhagen, Sharjah, Singapore.
Prestwick is seen as a cargo point for Scotland's high-tech industry centred nearby, and the airport already services cargo flights from Air France, Lufthansa Cargo, Federal Express and Cargolux.
Also in September there will be two additional changes to SIA's cargo offering. Flights to Los Angeles will increase to five times weekly and to Macau to twice weekly with a second flight on the routing Singapore, Macau, Anchorage, Los Angeles, Anchorage, Taipei, Singapore.
A weekly European service will substitute Brussels for Copenhagen and will now comprise Singapore-Sharjah-Dublin-Brussels-Sharjah-Singapore.
SIA recently added a second weekly flight to its 747-400F round-the-world service which takes in Singapore, Taipei, Anchorage, Chicago, New York (JFK), Brussels, Bombay, Singapore.