Jetstar and Tiger slash Singapore-Phuket route

[LivinLOS]

I used these quite a bit on my Bali hops.. Shame they are going..

Jetstar and Tiger slash Singapore-Phuket route

PHUKET: Citing a lack of demand, Jetstar Asia Airways has ditched its service between Phuket and Singapore, while Tiger Airways has halved its service of the same route.

Only 18 months after introducing a Phuket-Singapore air link, Singapore-based Jetstar Asia announced on March 30 that it has suspended its service of six flights a week. Low demand and a reallocation of resources were revealed as the reasons behind the sudden cancellation.

Meanwhile, the Straits Times reported on March 27 that Tiger Airways has reduced its Singapore-Phuket service from twice daily to once daily, while at the same time beefing up its routes to Vietnam and India.

“Inconsistent demand” was cited in the Straits Times report as being the primary reason for cutting back on the Phuket service.

Jetstar Asia, together with its sister airline Valuair, also shifted its focus to other markets, particularly Indonesia.

Valuair recently launched six weekly flights between Singapore and Medan and increased flights between Singapore and Jakarta from three daily to four daily.

Jetstar Asia introduced daily services to Kuala Lumpur and Macau from Singapore earlier this year and continues to operate its twice-daily Singapore-Bangkok link.

When asked whether Jetstar Asia would ever resume the Phuket-Singapore route, public relations manager Tan Khai Hua told the Gazette, “We are constantly evaluating the deployment of our resources and currently we are focused on other opportunities.

“However, we will review the possibility of resuming the route on a regular basis.”

Rival budget-airline Thai AirAsia is continuing its once-daily Singapore-Phuket flights while full-service carrier SilkAir is operating four daily flights on the same route throughout the low season.

Following Jetstar Asia’s announcement, Thai AirAsia was quick to issue a statement that it was “confident its load factor on the Phuket-Singapore route will reach over 80% in the next three to four months.”

Since opening the route in November, Thai AirAsia’s seat occupancy has risen from more than 60% to more than 70%.

Tassapon Bijleveld, Thai AirAsia CEO, said, “We are strongly confident in the Phuket-Singapore tourism market and expect it to grow stronger.

“A tremendous increase in traffic should come with the airline’s aggressive marketing of the route and the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s support. Already, the route is getting more attention from travelers from Singapore and Phuket.”

SilkAir recently trimmed its flight schedule from 32 flights per week to 28 weekly, but is set to resume the 32-flight schedule in October. Many of its seats are filled with transit passengers from parent company Singapore Airlines’ long-haul flights.

SilkAir’s Phuket branch manager, Hansoo Tan, told the Gazette, “We are enjoying healthy loads and Phuket remains one of our top-performing destinations.

“Outbound sales have shown growth in spite of the excess capacity on the route and as competitors pull out, we expect this trend to continue with more industry support.”

Regarding the outlook for travel between Singapore and Phuket, Mr Tan said, “We have no crystal ball here, but we always have to be prepared for the fact that leisure markets are elastic and are easily impacted by world developments and natural events.

“What makes Phuket special is it that it has shown itself to be an incredibly resilient destination. It is a quality product, easy to package and very accessible,” he said.

“Also, as Asia is growing increasingly affluent, we expect more interregional travel, which Phuket will benefit from,” he said.

“We’re not just looking to grow point-to-point traffic, but are constantly leveraging on the combined Singapore Airlines-SilkAir network of more than 90 destinations,” he added.

Key markets of Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan are important source markets for inbound tourism to Phuket, he said. India is among the emerging markets that SilkAir sees as offering “tremendous potential” for growth, he added.

SilkAir has operated the Singapore-Phuket route for nearly 20 years.

[easyrider_au]

I logged into the Jetstar website the other day & noticed Manila is on their listings now.
When I clicked on Manila to see where they flew to...Phuket was listed.

I haven't seen any announcements yet from Jetstar, but if it is correct, it'd be great for mongers.

[dizbuster]

With more airlines flying directly in to Phuket, I'm not surprised that the demand has dropped from Singapore. People used to use it as a link to get to Phuket, but now there's not so much need to do so, take the direct flights from Oz as an example. I would imagine that previously quite a few of those travellers would fly to Singapore and then have to change in order to get to Phuket, whereas nowadays they can fly direct from places like Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

Who wants to stop off at Singapore when they can fly direct to their destination ? Not that many, by the look of it.

[jingjai1]

I've flown this route a few times.

When I looked for round-trip prices from Phuket, on the dates I wanted, Silk Air was the best price, followed by Air Asia and Jetstar. Tiger was the most expensive.

Unless you get a promotion, Tiger Air is exptremely expensive from Singapore to Phuket, Chiang Mai and Bangkok. The product is sh*t, other than the new planes. I think they're owned by the same group as Silk Air so lowering service only moves it from one hand to the other.

I took the Jetstar flight and only 20 people were on it. They deliver what they promise, but with loads low, I'm not surprised they dropped it.

Air Asia has public suport and very strong growth. People seem to love them and it's result is very full planes. They seem to keep prices much lower on routes that they compete at.

Even with only Silk Air and Air Asia flying, we shouldn't worry about convenience or price on this route.

[LivinLOS]

Tiger is usually 2000 odd baht including taxes etc.. Silk is usually nearer double that. Tiger does feel like abudget tho, where jetstar feels like a normal flight IMO.

I try to use jetstar for Phuket -> sing -> Bali... May have to look into the bkk hop or jakarta options.. Not done any nights in jakarta and hear ok things about it.

[jingjai1]

Except for the odd day (that I searched) Tiger is 4500 - 7000THB one way. A joke that Tiger call themselves a Budget Airline.

[LivinLOS]

Must have ramped thier prices big time as the route declined.. As I say it was usually about 500 baht flight and 1500 baht taxes for 2k total.

Preferred jetsar to Tiger as it doesnt use the nasty cheapo terminal.

[LivinLOS]

Seems odd.. First dates I tried..

Departure (Lowest Fare)
1 Adult at 1,340.00 THB 1,340.00 THB
Taxes and Fees (details) 2,255.00 THB

I ave seen those fares down in the 500 - 1000 range for longer range bookings... so the 2k ballpark seems ok ??

[ATMwalking]

I just did the hop on Air Asia. Cheap and painless. The other airlines were a lot more expensive. Goes to Terminal 1 and not the Low Cost Carrier Terminal So it is basically the same as Silk but was 1/3 the price.

Done Tiger in the past but this time it was double and went t the LCC.

BTW, anyone else notice in Terminal 1 they have signs up telling you how long it takes to travel from point to point. Really cool if you want to stop at a shop for a minute but not sure if you have time. Clever.

[LivinLOS]

I swore off Air Asia over something petty... Havent flown them in ages.

[dizbuster]

Tiger are currently trying to got a foothold in the KL route by offering free flights (you just pay the tax), so it looks like they have raised fares to recoup losses.

Another reason for the drop I think, is the timings of the flights which are not very friendly for people with evening flight connections. IIRC Tiger was flying twice, once early morning (depart HKT around 8.30am) and again in the evening (depart HKT around 8.30pm). This means if you have a 4/5/6pm flight you don't really have enough time to get out and spend some time in Singapore and alternatively it's a very long time waiting around the airport for your connection. Also, if you have a late flight, the later Tiger flight means that you are cutting it fine and also taking a chance on a LCC to be on time and to actually make the flight.

Expats doing the visa run and Singapore locals going on holiday will not fill 1 plane every day, let alone 3 or 4, it's the hub business which fills the Silk Air planes more than anything else. A because it's a subsidiary of SIA and therefore deemed reliable, B if you are flying SIA you can check-in straight through and C they have the best time slots.

[ATMwalking]

Originally Posted by LivinLOS

I swore off Air Asia over something petty... Havent flown them in ages.

Strange, they are my default carrier when I am doing carry-on. My experience has been economical and efficient. My only minor complaint is the e-ticket is in a PDF with tiny text and not the body of the email. Harder to read on the iPhone.

[Dingo's]

Originally Posted by ATMwalking

Harder to read on the iPhone.

Ohhhhhh you poor bloke. Life must suck! 555555

[Denver]

Originally Posted by Dingo's

Ohhhhhh you poor bloke. Life must suck! 555555

555555555 Don't get Chris and Keld in the same bar as they will end up i-Phoning PDF documents in text to each other! 555555555

Cheap round though! "Want a beer?".............."Ugh? What? Eh? Just finishing this text to Keld" etc 5555555

[Dodger]

When I was a kid they always used to call them earphones, whatever next???? whats all this new fangled malarky about????

[jingjai1]

I'm just the opposite. I didn't fly Air Asia at all until recently. They are not my first choice, but price convenience and reliability has earned them much of my business lately.

[marc26]

Originally Posted by ATMwalking

. My only minor complaint is the e-ticket is in a PDF with tiny text and not the body of the email. Harder to read on the iPhone.

haha
thats so funny
i dont carry e-tickets i just show the girl at counter my e-mail on bberry with confim #

[Soupdragon]

Has paper become obselete and nobody told me ????

[marc26]

Originally Posted by Soupdragon

Has paper become obselete and nobody told me ????

haha
if you knew my track record of losing everything, you'd understand why i prefer to just throw everything on my blackberry and look at that

[Soupdragon]

Originally Posted by marc26

haha
if you knew my track record of losing everything, you'd understand why i prefer to just throw everything on my blackberry and look at that

Cool so now you only have to lose one thing any everything goes, saves time.555

[marc26]

Originally Posted by Soupdragon

Cool so now you only have to lose one thing any everything goes, saves time.555

sure, why not 555555
didnt say it was sensible

[ATMwalking]

Originally Posted by marc26

haha
thats so funny
i dont carry e-tickets i just show the girl at counter my e-mail on bberry with confim #

Exactly. e-ticket for me means never hits paper.

[prestagea]

Compared prices between Thai and Jet Star and Tiger. By the time you add back n the additional charges that Jet star and Tiger have like food and audio/visualt Thia Airways is much the same price and Thia fly more direct for us in Melbourne.