AirAsia X and Scoot help make Sydney Australia's hub for low-cost long-haul carriers | CAPAJetstar likely to enter Sydney-Singapore
Whereas Scoot served as a nudge to AirAsia X, both carriers, and Scoot in particular, are likely to nudge Jetstar to operate Sydney-Singapore service.
While Jetstar operates long-haul services to Singapore from Melbourne, as well as from Sydney to long-haul destinations including Bali and
Honolulu, Jetstar has stayed off the Sydney-Singapore route. This, however, is likely to change this year. Jetstar has slowly taken on traditional corporate markets. The biggest change came last decade when
Tiger Airways Australia's entry into
Melbourne Tullamarine-Sydney saw Jetstar respond with its own services from Melbourne
Tullamarine, whereas it previously served Sydney from Melbourne alternative airport
Avalon. In Dec-2010 Jetstar entered the Melbourne-Singapore route, having been previously confined to serving primarily leisure long-haul destinations.
The entrance of Jetstar on Melbourne Tullamarine-Sydney and Melbourne-Singapore raised the matter of cannibalisation of parent company
Qantas' traffic and yields. The prospective entrance of Jetstar on Sydney-Singapore will raise that issue even more as Sydney-Singapore (and onwards to London) is thought of within
Qantas as a sacrosanct market, and indeed one of Qantas' last after recent route reductions. The entrance of Jetstar would effectively leave Qantas with only
Los Angeles as a flagship high-profile route. While this is unlikely to irk astute Qantas senior management that has, against much public headwinds, sought to stem its loss-making international operation, lower managers and Qantas' vociferous unions are not likely to respond well.
The addition of Jetstar on Sydney-Singapore could add 4242 weekly seats, further cementing Sydney's position as Australia's low-cost long-haul hub.