Qantas has announced it will be reintroducing its Perth-to-Singapore route in late June, after shelving the flight path in May last year.
Qantas has announced it will be reintroducing its Perth-to-Singapore route in late June, after shelving the flight path in May last year.
Chief executive Garth Evans acknowledged it was important for Western Australian business travellers to have seamless access to Asia.
“The new international service has been made possible through the Qantas group’s aircraft utilisation program – which is about having the right aircraft on the right route – and matching schedules with customer demand,” Mr Evans said.
Since the regular Perth-to-Singapore service was ended last year, Qantas had operational seasonal services between the two cities during peak holiday periods only.
Tourism Minister Kim Hames said the five return flights per week offered more choice for those travelling between Singapore and WA and could only be seen as a positive for the local economy.
“The decision recognises the importance of Perth as a major gateway in Australia, and caters to the growing corporate and leisure visitor markets,” Dr Hames said.
“Perth has a distinct advantage over other Australian cities in terms of time zone and distance to South East Asia so it’s convenient for business and holiday travellers – and makes sense for the route to be part of the Australian airline’s itinerary.”
About 78,800 visitors from Singapore spent $193 million in WA in the 12 months to September 2014, representing a 30 per cent increase in visitors and a 21 per cent increase in spend on the year prior.
Australian Hotels Association WA chief executive Bradley Woods said Qantas’s decision was good news for tourists, business and local consumers.
“The decision last year left WA with no major full service airline bearing the Australian flag from Singapore to Perth,” he said.
“Singapore is WA’s second largest international market by visitor spend and arrivals and is set to grow.”
Mr Evans also announced that Qantas would be providing an additional two weekly return services between Perth and Brisbane, for a total of up to 30 flights between the two cities each week.
Meanwhile, the airline will bring in two F100 aircraft on some services from Perth to Port Hedland, Karratha, Newman and Broome later this year, in order to maintain the level of frequency while matching smaller capacity with less demand.
Jetstar Asia operates 13 flights between Perth and Singapore per week.
Qantas shares were 0.6 per cent lower to $3.30 per share at 12:40pm.