Singapore Aviation Part 2: Emirates & Qatar expand. SIA drops Europe capacity, adds premium economy

Gulf carriers are continuing to pursue ambitious expansion in Singapore, intensifying competition with Singapore Airlines (SIA). Gulf carriers are steadily increasing their share of the Singapore-Europe market while SIA reduces capacity to Europe.

Qatar Airways is increasing capacity in Singapore by 67% in mid-2015 as it introduces a third daily service, while Emirates significantly expanded capacity in Singapore in Aug-2014, when it introduced its fifth daily Dubai-Singapore frequency. Etihad Airways meanwhile is adding Singapore-Middle East capacity by decoupling its Singapore-Brisbane service from Jun-2015.

Total seat capacity between Singapore and the Middle East will be up by almost 20% in Jun-2015 compared to Jun-2014. SIA has steadily cut back capacity to the Middle East in recent years while not pursuing any growth to Europe. SIA will now be cutting total seat capacity to Europe by about 4% from 2H2015 as it introduces a premium economy product. The resulting reduction in economy seat capacity could help SIA improve yields in markets facing intensifying competition with Gulf carriers.