Disappointing implementation of SilkAir/VA’s new Darwin to Singapore service

Overview
In March 2012, SilkAir will begin operating the Darwin to Singapore route four times a week using an A320 series aircraft – Virgin Australia will codeshare on the service. The Darwin – Singapore route is Darwin’s only link to a major overseas hub and is currently serviced by a daily Jetstar A321.

Interestingly, the new SilkAir flight offers poor connectivity to Europe and good connectivity to Asia; in the case of Jetstar, the opposite is true. Overall, SilkAir’s lengthy connection times at Singapore, dearer fares and “part-time” frequency mean that it is not the panacea towards the Darwin market´s overseas travel requirements that some may believe.

Comparing connectivity at Singapore
This new flight links Darwin to the Singapore Airlines network, which offers a far wider variety of destinations out of Singapore than Jetstar/Qantas. It also fills the void of full-service carriers out of Darwin since Qantas pulled its daily Cairns – Darwin – Singapore 767 service.

The new service is scheduled to depart Singapore late at night and return before the morning peak, essentially making use of an aircraft that would otherwise sit idle:

MI802 Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun Singapore 1930hrs Darwin 0145hrs + 1
MI801 Mon, Tue, Thu, Sat Darwin 0230hrs Singapore 0530hrs

 

One weakness of this schedule is that it makes for very unattractive connection times to many major destinations in Europe:

Singapore Airlines flights from Europe are primarily scheduled to arrive into Singapore in an early morning bank, so passengers travelling towards Darwin must wait for 13 hours until their 1930 connecting service. Similarly, in the Europe-bound direction, passengers must wait around for 18 hours to connect to the midnight departure bank. Connection times travelling back from the Los Angeles are similarly lengthy, meaning that Darwin passengers are better off connecting via the Australian East Coast.

Of course, Jetstar´s schedule (which operates around the Qantas UK/Europe flight bank as per its Qantas predecessor) is quite limited in servicing Asia, which demonstrates that it is difficult to develop a schedule that pleases everybody.

Closing remarks
This new SilkAir service will cater primarily towards Darwin to UK and Darwin to Asia traffic; most of the new European destinations that are opened up (via the Singapore Airlines network) require such lengthy connections that passengers are better off continuing to fly Jetstar/Qantas to London and backtracking to Europe.