SIA Plans to Launch Flights to Nowhere By October 2020

SIA Plans to Launch Flights to Nowhere By October 2020

Flights will start and end at Changi Airport in 3 hours.

sia flights to nowhere

[Update] As announced in a press release on 20 September 2020 (Tuesday), Singapore Airlines will no longer launch their “flights to nowhere” plans.

Among the industries affected by COVID-19, it is no surprise that the aviation sector is hit the hardest. Without the option for domestic flights, the effects are felt most by carriers like Singapore Airlines. To mitigate this, Singapore Airlines (SIA) is planning to launch “flights to nowhere” by end of October 2020.

Destination Nowhere

So how do flights to nowhere work?

Basically, these are trips that start and end at the airport. In this case, Changi Airport Singapore. 

According to the Straits Times, each flight will last about three hours.

An SIA spokesman also announced that the flights to nowhere initiative will potentially be bundled with staycation deals and shopping vouchers.

There are plans to explore a partnership with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), allowing passengers to partially pay for such flights with tourism credits that will be given out by the government, such as the SingapoRediscovers vouchers.

“We will make an announcement at the appropriate time if we go ahead with these plans,” the SIA spokesman said.

Also read: SingapoRediscovers Vouchers to Give Local Tourism A Boost

Reduction in operating capacity

SIA previously stated that it will be cutting 2,400 jobs across Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and Scoot due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Explaining the reduction in its operating capacity, SIA said, “As previously indicated, the Group expects to operate under 50 per cent of its capacity at the end of financial year 2020/21 versus pre-COVID levels. Industry groups have also forecast that passenger traffic will not return to previous levels until around 2024.”

Similar flights around

SIA’s flights to nowhere initiative follows in the footsteps of fellow Asian carriers. Last month, Japan’s ANA Holdings Inc. sold tickets for a charter flight to nowhere, while two Taiwan carriers launched similar campaigns: Starlux Airlines introduced a “pretending to go abroad” journey and EVA Airways Corp. filled all 309 seats on a special Father’s Day flight.

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Shawn Tan
Shawn Tan

Shawn believes that travel is a state of mind. Whether it is winding through the bustling medinas of Marrakech or the morning ritual of brewing coffee, travelling to him is all about being lost in the moment.

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