Asian carrier Singapore Airlines has announced the closure of its routes to the Egyptian capital Cairo and the Saudi Arabian city of Riyadh, although it will continue to serve the latter market with flights to Jeddah which will now operate via Dubai rather than Riyadh. The airline says the decision to close flights to these two destinations was due to the “sustained weak performance of both routes”.
Singapore Airlines has served Cairo for many years as an extension of its Singapore – Dubai route. It currently operates three flights per week on to the Egyptian capital but will close the route from September 30, 2014. Flights to Riyadh in December 2008, initially also via Dubai but since October 2012 has been served directly from Singapore with an onward leg to Jeddah. The airline also offers three flights per week on the route but will close the service from September 28, 2014.
The Star Alliance member says its services to the two destinations have been performing poorly over recent years. The political tensions in Egypt have hit demand in and out of the country over recent years and our analysis shows that O&D demand in the market between Singapore and Cairo has declined by around 60 per cent since 2010.
In Saudi Arabia, Singapore Airlines has faced direct competition from Saudia between Singapore and Riyadh but again has seen a declining numbers on the route to just 16,000 O&D passengers in 2013.
In our analysis, below, we look in greater detail at the average air fares being charged by Singapore Airlines on the two routes over the past five years.
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