SIA announced Gold Coast as its second destination after Sydney

World Top Stories News : SIA announced Gold Coast as its second destination after Sydney : New Singapore Airlines (SIA) low-cost long-haul carrier Scoot announced today Gold Coast as its second destination after Sydney and confirmed its intention to launch services in Jun-2012. Scoot has decided to launch with two routes to Australia because the process of securing authorisations for China, which Scoot has said will also be served within its first year, is longer and more unpredictable. Gold Coast was selected over two other Australian airports on Scoot’s short list, Adelaide and Brisbane, because of Gold Coast’s excellent track record of success with LCCs, including Asia’s two existing low-cost long-haul carriers – AirAsia X and Jetstar. Gold Coast is also the largest airport in Australia currently lacking a link with Singapore.

Gold Coast is the fifth largest international airport in Australia behind Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth (see Background information). Among Australia’s top airports it has by far the highest LCC penetration rate. Currently LCCs account for 98% of total capacity (seat) at Gold Coast, including 90% of international capacity and nearly 100% of domestic capacity.

Gold Coast is eager to attract more long-haul carriers and the airport is always an attractive choice for LCCs. AirAsia X and Jetstar are now Gold Coast’s only two long-haul carriers. AirAsia X currently offers five weekly flights to Kuala Lumpur while Jetstar operates five weekly flights to Osaka and a daily flight to Tokyo Narita.

Flights to New Zealand now account for 40% of Gold Coast’s total international capacity and are operated with narrowbody aircraft from three carriers – Jetstar, Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand. Jetstar now has a leading 51% share of total capacity at Gold Coast Airport (includes domestic and international) while Virgin Australia (which is still considered an LCC although it has shifted to a hybrid model) has a 41% share. Read More....

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