Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Air New Zealand have announced their partnership to allow Air New Zealand to provide again, flights between Singapore and Auckland, and to have SIA’s Airbus A380 fly to New Zealand for the first time.
Under the agreement, the Airbus A380 will progressively replace the existing daily service of the smaller Boeing 777-300ER.
Five flights currently operated by SIA will be taken over by Air New Zealand’s refitted Boeing 777-200ER aircrafts on a daily basis, increasing flight frequency by two.
It is hoped that with the agreement, the existing capacity beween Singapore and New Zealand will increase by up to 30 percent.
Under the alliance, Air New Zealand passengers will be able to access codeshare travel on SIA’s network to Africa, Europe, South-East Asia, United Kingdom (UK) and on the network of its subsidiary airline SilkAir and vice versa.
Says chief executive officer Goh Choon Phong, “This alliance is another example of our commitment to the important Southwest Pacific market, and our commitment to the further enhancement of our network. This is a genuine win-win partnership, enabling Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand to work together to provide more flight frequency and enhanced travel options to our customers.”
Chief executive officer of Air New Zealand Christopher Luxon added that an alliance with SIA clearly compliments Air New Zealand’s business objectives of working with the right partners in the right markets to provide the best customer service to its passengers.
SIA’s daily flight service to Christchurch will also continue under the alliance, which is now pending approval from the Competition Commission of Singapore and the New Zealand Minister of Transport and could see flight services commencing as early as December 2014.
Photo: AFP
