Photo: SingaporeAir.com
It might be a while before international travel restrictions are lifted, but airline companies can’t afford to wait that long. With more jobs at risk of being cut with every passing day, certain airlines have come up with a halfway solution: flights to nowhere.
In some territories, with some airlines or certain airports, these flights to nowhere never take off: they’re just pretend-flights, aiming to offer frequent fliers suffering from cabin fever that “airport experience,” which also includes boarding the plane and going through the pre-flight routine. In other cases, like with Singapore Airlines (SIA), they do take off but they never go anywhere.
The idea might seem ludicrous to someone who doesn’t travel by plane too frequently: that you would pay money to go to the airport, get on the plane and spend 3 hours on the plane, only to land at the same airport. But it’s something that should tide frequent fliers over for the time being and, more importantly, that would offer some sort of financial relief to cash-strapped airlines.
According to the Straits Times, the plan was for SIA to partner with aircraft charter firm Singapore Air Charter, but SIA eventually decided it would go ahead on its own. The flights to nowhere program would kick off next month, in October, and allow for tourists to pay with tourism credits offered by the Government. SIA would not confirm this, but did say they were looking into a variety of options.
Each flight would take off and land at the Changi Airport, and it could be bundled with a staycation, a limo ride and “airport shopping experiences” to be an even more irresistible offer. The flight itself would last some 3 hours, but the experience could be extended depending on what else is part of the package.
Independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie from Sobie Aviation tells the publication that such a project would hardly have an impact in terms of revenue, even with the novelty factor. Still, it would break even, and keep planes in the air and crew working. So it’s better than nothing.
The idea might seem ludicrous to someone who doesn’t travel by plane too frequently: that you would pay money to go to the airport, get on the plane and spend 3 hours on the plane, only to land at the same airport. But it’s something that should tide frequent fliers over for the time being and, more importantly, that would offer some sort of financial relief to cash-strapped airlines.
According to the Straits Times, the plan was for SIA to partner with aircraft charter firm Singapore Air Charter, but SIA eventually decided it would go ahead on its own. The flights to nowhere program would kick off next month, in October, and allow for tourists to pay with tourism credits offered by the Government. SIA would not confirm this, but did say they were looking into a variety of options.
Each flight would take off and land at the Changi Airport, and it could be bundled with a staycation, a limo ride and “airport shopping experiences” to be an even more irresistible offer. The flight itself would last some 3 hours, but the experience could be extended depending on what else is part of the package.
Independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie from Sobie Aviation tells the publication that such a project would hardly have an impact in terms of revenue, even with the novelty factor. Still, it would break even, and keep planes in the air and crew working. So it’s better than nothing.
Google News