SIA, Silkair and Scoot to cut capacity into China after demand hit by virus

WITH flight demand marred by the Wuhan virus outbreak, Singapore Airlines (SIA) and its subsidiaries SilkAir and Scoot will reduce capacity on selected routes to Greater China starting next month, subject to regulatory approvals.

Some flights originally scheduled for dates in February and March 1 under the flag carrier and Silkair will be suspended. These flights are those between Singapore and parts of mainland China, SIA said in a Facebook post early on Friday morning.

They include SIA flights between Singapore and Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou; as well as Silkair flights between Singapore and Shenzhen, Xiamen, Chengdu and Chongqing. Affected customers will be notified and re-accommodated onto other flights.

Meanwhile, low-cost carrier Scoot has also announced on its Facebook page that it will be suspending flights between Singapore and 11 cities in mainland China from early February until end March 2020.

These cities are Harbin, Hangzhou, Shenyang, Xian, Changsha, Nanchang, Zhengzhou, Ningbo, Jinan, Nanning and Wuxi. Customers booked on these flights will receive a full refund.

Scoot will also reduce flight frequencies for the following eight cities, from Feb 1 to Mar 28: Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Kunming, Nanjing, Qingdao, Tianjin and Macau.

On top of that, some Scoot flights between Singapore and Guangzhou, Nanjing, Macau and Hong Kong will be cancelled.

Prior to these announcements, shares of SIA had lost S$0.03 or 0.4 per cent to close at S$8.54 on Thursday - its worst showing since 2009.

S&P Global Ratings had said in a report on Thursday that airlines now face risks from the spread of the Wuhan virus similar to those during the Sars (severe acure respiratory syndrome) epidemic in 2003. However, the International Air Transport Association also noted in a separate report that the industry has proven resilient to shocks in the past, and thus any impact will not be long-drawn.