Could Singapore Airlines's 'Capital Express' Route Soon Be Scrapped?

In September of last year, Singapore Airlines commenced their ‘Capital Express’ route. If you’re not aware, the routing is Singapore to Canberra to Wellington.

The flights operate 4 times a week, and they are operated by a 777-200 which is in a 2 class configuration. The aircraft seats 266 passengers and the aircraft that operates the Capital Express route is always the regional Business Class product.

Singapore Airlines 777-200 (Image – Singapore Airlines)

When the route first launched the loads were quite good and looked promising, sadly that’s quickly gone down hill for the airline. They are struggling to fill seats, especially on the Wellington legs.

The ‘Capital Express’ Routing

Courtesy of the ABC:

”Federal Government figures show passengers getting on and off the Singapore Airline flights in Canberra have been filling about half the available seats to and from Singapore and 25 per cent to and from Wellington.

However, December figures show on average 37 per cent of the 266 seats from Singapore to Canberra were occupied by people travelling to the national capital.”

Obviously, that isn’t good numbers for the airline. I could see Singapore Airlines scrapping the Wellington legs and just flying direct to Canberra. This would make sense as the carrier is getting marginally better numbers to and from Singapore. Passengers that are wanting to go to wellington have the option of using a Virgin Australia flight out of Sydney or Melbourne. Who knows, Virgin may even start a flight from Canberra to Wellington.

It’s definitely interesting to see the load factor of the service and get an idea of what the demand is like. I’m now even more intrigued to see how Qatar will perform when they start services in February 2018. Qatar will also go daily which will be very interesting, I’d say the route will be reduced quite quickly as I think they will also have a hard time to fill seats.

Both Singapore and Qatar do excellent out of major Australia airports and it’s sad to see Canberra not performing well, Is Canberra ready for more International services and is the demand there for Canberra?

Featured Image – Singapore Airlines

6 comments on “Could Singapore Airlines’s ‘Capital Express’ Route Soon Be Scrapped?”

Saltwater March 22, 2017

I would be surprised to see the Singapore – Canberra leg scrapped, always thought it will take time to build up given so many in Canberra will be on QF loyalty programs, but given time the could move people away. The convenience of not having to transit through Sydney / Melbourne, and a one-stop option to London and most of Asia means the service has a lot going for it. SQ have also given strong commitments. I fly from Christchurch to Singapore fairly regularly, similar catchment to Canberra and those flights are almost always packed.

It is possible the Wellington leg will be dropped, by SQ at least. A 777 is a big plane to fill on a CBR – WEL leg, my feel is it would be better served by an A320, so we may see Air NZ or Virgin step in. The logical option may be for the SQ flight to arrive into Canberra and turn back to Singapore mid morning, with an Air NZ flight from & to Wellington timed for decent connections and to provide feeder traffic on both flights.

Either day I hope this is cleared up soon – rumours of the services demise cannot be good for new bookings…
phoenix March 22, 2017

I smell an equipment change to the A350-900.
chris April 2, 2017

An A350 would be welcome. The 777s are worn out, noisy, uncomfortable and have no PE seats. I’m booking day flights via Sydney rather than take this route overnight. The A350s have less seats to fill, too.
Magnus April 24, 2017

You wrong. First of all the federal govt figures don’t show connecting passengers. I’ve had a privilege of working at a car rental company over the last 6 months with customers coming off the SQ291 flight almost every flight. All have said the aircraft has lever been less than 3/4 full. To top it off after speaking to a couple of the pilots. 60% of the pax on that aircraft start their journey to Singapore from Wellington. The airline is making a profit from the route then to top it off with the subsidys they’re making a killing. There’s no reason for Singapore to stop especially with the subsidies and to top it off Singapore repeatedly stating they’re committed to the route. Also the a350-900 has been slated for the route in the next 24 months.
David M May 24, 2017

Flew Canberra to Singapore and return as part of an extended tour in Asia in the last couple weeks. Excellent option to be able to fly directly out of Canberra. Saves all the hassle of travelling to Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne to get overseas. I’m thinking to use SIA out of Canberra for future trips to Europe etc. Interstate family and friends come to Canberra now to go overseas because of the quick customs and immigration and the easy connections onward from Singapore. They do need to update the plane though. Its very dated. If SIA want to continue the route and attract more customers they need to use a more modern plane. I was very frustrated when trying to select preferred seating online which showed almost all seats blocked out and then get on the plane to see heaps of vacant seats. If you book early you should be given full choice of any non-booked seats at that time. SIA need to also rethink business class options on this route. BC takes up quite a large area of the plane yet isn’t used much. Last 2 flights I noticed 4 people in BC on 1 leg and about 10 on the other. Why not convert the 2nd half of BC to prem economy, or, make it an ‘economy business’ area where you can pay extra for the seat room but get economy service. I’d happily pay extra to get a good sleep. I’m not too concerned about the food. All up a good thing for globe trotting Canberrans and surrounding areas but the plane needs modernizing and give people more pricing structure options to fill the BC seats up. If they update the plane and change the route to a day flight I’d use it all the time.
W6R December 9, 2017

Arriving late I know but we flew Singapore to Canberra yesterday and the combination of an older, less comfortable plane and an overnight flight was not good. Our flight was full and staff on the ground said bookings were good so SA is making money on this route.

We love the idea of “arriving” in Canberra with no need to fly from Melb or Sydney however, next time, I’d consider the planes on the route more carefully. YMMV