So what's the deal, mate?
Singapore and Australia are edging closer to an open-skies agreement. SIA could then fly direct from Australia to the US. But what's in it for you? Frequent flyer Skip Hopper explains to ALVIN CHIANG
G'DAY, mates.
I'm Skip Hopper.
Just call me Skip, mate.
Business takes me hopping all around the world.
And guess what I like about Singapore?
You've got Foster's.
I'm a fair dinkum Aussie.
So why am I all for open skies between Singapore and Australia?
Because our sheilas will have to match the Singapore Girl.
And we won't have to pay through the nose to fly.
A Sydney-Los Angeles return ticket costs $1,099, according to the Qantas website.
United Airlines is the only other carrier flying direct between Australia and the US.
But SIA could fly direct too if there are open-skies.
And fares could drop.
Of course, I'm all for it.
So what's holding it up?
Qantas, our national airline, what else?
For 10 years, Singapore has asked Australia to let SIA fly direct between Australia and the US.
But there has been much resistance.
Yesterday, for instance, Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon blasted SIA.
He said SIA was trying to take a slice of Qantas' lucrative transpacific routes to North America, even after Qantas reported a record half-year profit.
The US flights are a gold mine for Qantas. It owns three-quarters of the market share.
Each week Qantas has 37 flights between Australia and the US.
Of these, 30 are direct flights from Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
(SIA has just two direct services - from Singapore to New York, and Singapore to LA.)
And the US flights bring in 15 per cent of Qantas' profits, says JP Morgan Securities Australia.
The US flights netted some $186 million in profits for Qantas last year.
No wonder Qantas doesn't want competition.
Opening up the US route to SIA could cost Qantas about $56 million in profits, said JP Morgan.
Qantas, of course, says the airline industry has yet to recover from the effects of the Iraq war and Sars.
But what about us passengers?
Give us a break.
Bring on the competition and let the fares drop, I say.

The above article is from The New Paper, Singapore, 19 Feb 2005