Emirates wants to axe its Brisbane-Singapore flights: here's why...

Emirates plans a quick exit from the Brisbane-Singapore route due to "substantial losses".

By David Flynn, September 16 2019
Emirates wants to axe its Brisbane-Singapore flights: here's why...

Emirates intends to axe its daily Brisbane-Singapore flights, citing "substantial losses" on the route due to a combination of declining revenues and increasing costs.

The Gulf airline and Qantas partner currently flies a Boeing 777-300ER as EK432/EK433 between Singapore and Brisbane as an add-on to the main Dubai-Singapore service.

However, Emirates has now asked the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore for approval to shutter the Singapore-Brisbane leg. CCCS approval is required as this service was listed as part of the Qantas-Emirates alliance founded in 2013, which also saw Qantas abandon Singapore in favour of Dubai as the hub for its London flights.

Qantas since recanted, in March 2018 ditching Dubai and returning to Singapore as the stopover for flights from Sydney to London.

According to the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore, "Emirates has now applied to CCCS to fully remove its capacity commitments in respect of the Singapore-Brisbane route. Emirates has cited overcapacity, declining revenues and rising costs that have resulted in substantial losses on this route for its withdrawal."

The high cost of competition

In its submission, Emirates says that "the market has changed, making it a more challenging environment for Emirates... specifically, overcapacity, declining revenues and rising costs have resulted in Emirates suffering substantial losses on the route."

"As a consequence of these adverse changes in market conditions and ensuing poor financial performance, it is no longer commercially feasible for Emirates to  operate this route."

Emirates in particular cites "increased competition from Singapore Airlines, which has in the past year increased frequency and used larger capacity aircraft."

The Singaporean flag-carrier's four daily flights between Brisbane and Singapore "now account for 62% of the published seats on the route, while Emirates accounts for 21% and Qantas accounts for the remaining 17%."

Emirates also argues that the net effect is that "capacity exceeds demand", which in turn means that Qantas will not need to increase its own capacity on the Brisbane-Singapore route if the Emirates flights are cancelled – although Emirates says that while this was considered by both airlines, "Qantas does not have spare aircraft to deploy on this route."

Emirates responds...

Beyond issues of capacity, however, the timing of Emirates' Brisbane-Singapore leg – which departs at 2.35am – has always put the airline at a disadvantage, compared to Singapore Airlines' choice of departures at 6.10pm for those wishing to head straight from the office to the airport, or an 11.50pm flight if you'd rather have dinner at home and head to the airport in the late evening.

Approached for comment by Executive Traveller, an Emirates spokesperson said "the intent to suspend flights is based solely upon careful and comprehensive consideration of the commercial viability of the route. More information will be provided in due course. Brisbane remains an important business and leisure destination for Emirates, served with two direct daily flights to Dubai."

David

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.

07 Jan 2016

Total posts 37

Singapore Airlines are certainly dominating this route, particularly now that it's an all-A350 service.

I can't believe that my fellow Queenslanders wouldn't want to fly to Singapore at 2:35 in the morning.

American Airlines - AAdvantage

13 Jul 2015

Total posts 275

I hope Melbourne - Singapore isn't next, it used to have an A380 which went reasonably empty and the 777-300ER isn't full all year round for Emirates.

I just tried to book using QFF points for either MEL, SYD or BNE to SIN but none available in early May 2020 with Emirates. EK seem to hold tight to those seats despite claiming they are making a loss.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

16 Jun 2017

Total posts 6

I have always found EK433 to be a great flight - I use it a lot. Full day in Brisbane, then off to the airport for the only QF-coded overnight flight to Singapore. And then a full day to connect to flights all around Asia. Getting rid of this would make it very hard to connect from QF51 to anywhere except for a handful of destinations on the same day.

LP
LP

30 Jun 2016

Total posts 51

While the departure time ex BNE is brutal, I always preferred splitting journeys to Europe into 3 7 hour legs in economy, so this will be missed. The big reduction in potential F awards ex BNE is the biggest disappointment though...


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