SYDNEY: The Australian government should continue to exclude Singapore Airlines (SIA) and other foreign carriers from the lucrative transpacific route, a green paper on the future of Australia's aviation industry has recommended.

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Ours already open sky... no bargaining chip left to interest the Australians.

SIA is a wonderful airline without a doubt, however i am with the Australian government. SIA is one of the most cash rich airlines in the world . It can argue with will bring in $140million in tourist dollars but SIA wouldn't be doing it if there was more that that in it for itself. Flying from Australia picking up passengers flying them to its home in Singapore and onwards makes absolute sense . Flying away from it home to Australia and further away to the USA does not. I doubt whether SIA flying to the USA from Australia will lower fares. It will simply be the beginning of the end for Qantas and i believe we need to keep some of our National icons.

#3

It will simply be the beginning of the end for Qantas and i believe we need to keep some of our National icons.

Would that be an admission that Qantas would not be able to compete against SIA?

Ansett, SwissAir, Alitalia, all these are prime examples of what happen to airlines which function under protection. It's not just American airlines which are being supported by government funds or would have gone bust.

Only time will tell......

Qantas definitely cannot compete against SIA. In fact, Qantas' reputation has been tarnished by the recent accidents involving its aircraft, which were reported and emphasised by the western media.

When I go with an airline, safety is the first concern, and I definitely don't feel safe taking Qantas.

This time it's the Oz that is kiasu and definitely kiasi

#7

Our gahmen should have limit the number of flights going through Changi from Qantas and Jetstar or at least places certain conditions to ensure reciprocity but did'nt. The Aussies are actually much more brilliant than our over-rated guys in the gahmen. They knew about our 'kaisu' mentality and know how to play it out by threatening to go via KL and Bangkok. That's where our guys lost their pants.

#6

When I go with an airline, safety is the first concern, and I definitely don't feel safe taking Qantas.

Quite ironic - when Dustin Hoffman's character (Raymond Babbitt) in the 1988 movie "Rain Man" declared Qantas was the only international airline to have a completely accident-free record, it was pretty much true then, and for many years to come.

#8

They knew about our 'kaisu' mentality and know how to play it out by threatening to go via KL and Bangkok.

They can threaten, but would they actually do it?

After the current fiasco at Suvarnabhumi Airport, there is a lot of credibility to be restored for the airport's security and integrity.

Personally, I never had good experience at KLIA.

Given the longer range of aircrafts, Changi's regional competitor is HK to the north/east and Dubai to the west.

#9
"They can threaten, but would they actually do it?."

Your guess is as good as mine. But in this particular game of brinkmanship, our guys flinched first. As a result, we no longer have the leverage to extract reciprocity from the Aussies.