Singapore Airlines has just made the longest flight in the world from Singapore to New York in 17h25 minutes, whereas the expected duration was 18h45 minutes. That is to say, if the weather is favourable, you can save more than an hour and twenty minutes on the route.
Of course, the Airbus 350/900 was specially equipped for the occasion. Indeed, the aircraft is equipped with 67 seats in Business Class and 94 seats in Premium Economy, or 161 seats in all. It should be recalled that the capacity of this aircraft is 366 seats in a two-class configuration.
In other words, the company has made a choice of space since the density is twice as low as normal. She also took care of the lighting and the number of cabin staff. There were 17 crew members, including 4 cabin crew (Pilots) and 13 cabin crew, almost one steward or hostess for every 10 passengers.
The 150 passengers who made this flight paid an average of €2,100 in economy class and €8,000 in business class. So much for the factual aspects of the operation. To conclude on this subject, Singapore Airlines is not at its first attempt on this route. For a long time, it had served it with an Airbus 340/500, but it had to abandon the operation in the face of the aircraft’s operating costs, which were decidedly too high.
It is not certain that the resumption of this service will be good news for Gulf companies. The latter have bet everything on their ability to exchange the « avionnable » populations of Asia with the countries of the West. To do this, they have created the best airports in the world in hub configuration. Dubai, for example, is currently building the world’s largest airport complex called Dubai World Central or Al Maktoum International Airport.
This huge tool exceeds anything we’ve seen before. It is designed to accommodate 160 million passengers and 12 million tonnes of freight and will therefore be equipped with 6 runways, 3 huge terminals and an underground car park with 100,000 spaces, all over an area of 140 km² compared to the 32 km² of Roissy, which remains the largest airport in Europe.
And to further their ambitions, Gulf carriers have placed massive orders with both Boeing and Airbus: 266 long-haul aircraft for Emirates, 175 for Etihad Airways and 201 for Qatar Airways. But they will have to be filled, and it doesn’t look that easy as the obstacles seem to be accumulating.
First of all, the wishes of the customers. The arrival of new, much more efficient and comfortable aircraft makes it possible to envisage the development of point-to-point transport without going through a « hub », which nevertheless constitutes both a constraint for customers and a serious additional cost for operators.
Singapore Airlines has just reminded competitors in the Gulf that an alternative exists and it is all the more important to consider that very long flights seem to interest mainly business customers, the ones who support air transport and for whom all companies are fighting.
However, the « hubs » should not be frequented in the future only by entry-level customers, because this would have an impact on the entire economy of this operating mode.
In addition to this threat, there are recent geopolitical aspects. The Gulf companies’ operating system is based on the development of the « Open Sky » concept, in other words the freedom for operators to serve any route as long as they have the slots at the airports envisaged.
Only we seem to be heading towards a phase where states will start erecting barriers at the entrance to their territories. This is not good for anyone, but populism is dangerously gaining ground.
It is therefore to be feared that traffic rights will become scarcer for the Emirates, Qatar Airways and other Etihad Airways when they will need many more service opportunities if they want to be able to use the aircraft ordered.
And it must also be acknowledged that the agreement is not at the very least cordial between the three major operators. Qatar is isolated by its neighbours. It is as if France could no longer trade with Germany, Italy and Spain, for example.
The matter is very serious, even if the country’s gas resources allow it to overcome this crisis.
In short, the difficulties are accumulating on the big companies in the Gulf. It will be very interesting to hear what Emirates CEO Sir Tim Clark will have to say on these topics at the next APG World Connect in early November in Monaco.
Jean-Louis Baroux