Will they or won't they?????
Now this was reported in today's SMH, another media slant on the topic!
"Singapore Air not an airhead
September 5 2002
Of course not. So why would they want to start another airline in Australia?
The words of Sir Humphrey Appleby spring to mind when it comes to Singapore Air entering the domestic aviation market: such a move would certainly be a "courageous" decision.
The talk of Singapore Air starting up down under was rife again yesterday. But tellers of the tale have overlooked a few little details, such as the lack of substance to the speculation.
For a start, Singapore Air hasn't approached a single key supplier, such as unions or fuel companies, about an Australian service. It has had some very preliminary talks with Sydney and Melbourne airports, but that's about it.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has no applications before it for an air operators' certificate, and it takes 12 months anyway to issue one of those things. If Singapore Air is to decide at this month's board meeting that it will go ahead with a new domestic carrier, it will do so from a distinct state of unreadiness.
At best, you'd say Singapore Air is doing a rough back-of-the-envelope job on the alternatives to taking a stake in Qantas.
The real concern is that if Singapore Air did establish a domestic service it would tend to suggest they're not completely rational. And no one wants to compete against madmen, hence the 6c fall in Qantas yesterday to $4.09.
It would need at least $2 billion and a minimum 20 aircraft to make the idea fly. Merrill Lynch has noted before that the story only works if the start-up can win 30 per cent of the corporate market in double time. But Qantas has 100 per cent of that market locked up in two and three year deals.
And there's really no incentive for Singapore Air, especially as it already has an interlining deal with Qantas. It allows Singapore customers to buy seats on Qantas planes at the same price as can passengers of Qantas's Oneworld alliance partners British Airways and Cathay Pacific.
If all that weren't enough, Qantas is sitting on about $800 million in new equity and is more than ready for a price war.
Good luck, Singapore Air"
Anyway it gives another view. Although I could be wrong, but I agree with the article and don't believe SIA will operate domestic here in the near future.