Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines have formed an alliance that will see services between New Zealand and Singapore increase by nearly a third with ANZ flying aircraft.
Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines have agreed to form an alliance enabling Air New Zealand to fly the Auckland-Singapore route again and Singapore Airlines to operate the Airbus A380 to New Zealand for the first time.
The A380 would be operated daily by Singapore Airlines between Singapore and Auckland, progressively replacing an existing daily 777-300ER service.
Air New Zealand would launch daily services between Auckland and Singapore using newly-refitted 777-200ERs aircraft, taking over five flights currently operated by Singapore Airlines and adding two more weekly flights, increasing the frequency to daily. Subject to regulatory approvals, the carriers would aim to boost their existing capacity between New Zealand and Singapore by up to 30% year round over time.
Singapore Airlines’ daily Singapore-Christchurch service would continue as part of the alliance.
This deal, although good news for SIA, does seem mediocre at best for ANZ and remains to be seen if it can fill aircraft in the short term without a very large advertising campaign indeed. But the move does bring ANZ in from its splendid isolation due to geography more than anything else and the deal should put the brakes on the capture of passengers by the Middle East carriers and transits to Australia for transfers to other flights into Asia, the Middle East and Europe. It is most welcome news for Singapore but this is a great deal of capacity going into a limited market. This deal seals the lid shut on a secure leading market share for SIA and ANZ in New Zealand and in the future that may prove to be a very good move. SIA aims to plug lost market share in the Australian market with increased New Zealand transfer traffic. It is a logical move but one cannot help but think, given population differences and geography, that the wounds from fighting Middle East airlines and Qantas are somewhat larger than this New Zealand bandage.