Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Regularly scheduled Singapore Airlines flights are returning to Darwin, and the airline's Karl Schubert is excited the travel industry is recovering

Transcript

Regularly scheduled Singapore Airlines flights are returning to Darwin, and the airline's Karl Schubert is excited the travel industry is recovering · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You're listening to Mix one oh four point nine three sixty. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Singapore Airlines are going to reinstate their first regularly scheduled
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  Speaker 1: passenger flight to Darwin for the first time in twenty
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  Speaker 1: three years. The last time the service was active was
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  Speaker 1: in March nineteen ninety nine. And as we understand, flight
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  Speaker 1: Sq two five one is going to land in Darwin
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  Speaker 1: from Singapore today about two forty five this afternoon, I believe.
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  Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line is Singapore Airlines Flight
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  Speaker 1: Regional Manager, Public Affairs and Government Relations, Carl Schubert. Good
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  Speaker 1: morning to you, Carl, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: What today, the buzz, the atmosphere, the excitement, It's wow.
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  Speaker 2: I'm excited, I'm pumped and it's a great day. I
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  Speaker 2: think it's a huge step in the right direction for
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  Speaker 2: Australia and more particularly Darwin and the top ends recovery
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  Speaker 2: from the COVID nineteen pandemic.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it is certainly an exciting time I think for
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  Speaker 1: all of the territory, and by the sounds of it,
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  Speaker 1: the same for Singapore Airlines, Carl. Nine years. How come
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  Speaker 1: it's been so long?
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  Speaker 2: Well, actually before the pandemic, our regional wing Silk Care
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  Speaker 2: operated to Darwin on a daily service for about five
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  Speaker 2: five to six years before the pandemic struck, and ultimately
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  Speaker 2: over the last two years we've gone through quite a
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  Speaker 2: significant transformation program which has seen Silk Care wound into
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  Speaker 2: the main pair and company of Singapore Airlines. So it's
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  Speaker 2: really now Singapore Airlines is the operating aircraft. It's Singapore
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  Speaker 2: Airlines livery as we call it. So that famous blue
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  Speaker 2: and gold tale that you'll see landing this afternoons, the
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  Speaker 2: Singapore Airlines tale. But it's been a while. I suppose
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  Speaker 2: we did operate to Darwin as you mentioned, back between
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  Speaker 2: nineteen eighty eight and nineteen ninety nine, but unfortunately the
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  Speaker 2: economic crisis of nineteen ninety seven put pay to our
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  Speaker 2: plans to maintain that connection to Darwin. But it was
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  Speaker 2: great to have Silk Care there to fill that void
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  Speaker 2: for the years prior to the pandemic. And now it's
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  Speaker 2: out turn to come back, which we're very excited about.
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  Speaker 1: Yea, our reckon territorians are going to be as well.
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  Speaker 1: How many people are we expecting on today's flight.
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  Speaker 2: Firstly, look, I can't tell you that You'll have to
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  Speaker 2: get down there and count them as you come off,
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  Speaker 2: but we are excited by the number of people who've
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  Speaker 2: shown interest in this flight, both inbound and outbound. But
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  Speaker 2: I think one of the things to be really aware
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  Speaker 2: of is the fact that the last two years have
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  Speaker 2: decimated the tourism and tourism and aviation industry, and where
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  Speaker 2: we're not going to make up the losses that we've
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  Speaker 2: all incurred over the last two years in a single
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  Speaker 2: flight or within the first month. It is going to
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  Speaker 2: take a long time, and it's going to take time
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  Speaker 2: to rebuild and get back to those pre pandemic levels.
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  Speaker 2: Today is the first step. It's about laying a foundation,
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  Speaker 2: it's about building the confidence and seeing growth in the
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  Speaker 2: numbers moving forward. So that's what we're excited about. We
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  Speaker 2: see huge potential in Darwin, which is why we've got
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  Speaker 2: plans to you know, from hopefully the first of May
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  Speaker 2: to up our services to three times weekly and if
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  Speaker 2: all things are going well, moving to five times weekly
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  Speaker 2: by the end of May.
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  Speaker 1: That sounds fair fantastic and I think a lot of
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  Speaker 1: people will be quite happy to hear that. Do you
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  Speaker 1: think it's going to be quite successful On the Singapore side,
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  Speaker 1: How are you guys marketing the territory to those who
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  Speaker 1: live in Singapore, Well.
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  Speaker 2: The territory markets itself, doesn't it. It's the most phenomenal
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  Speaker 2: launch pad for Nimlouk Reserve, Kakuty National Park, Ularu. I
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  Speaker 2: mean the top end is you know, it is a
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  Speaker 2: marketer's dream really because it is just absolutely stunning and
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  Speaker 2: filled with so much natural wonder and beauty and culture
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  Speaker 2: and history. But I think critically the key point for
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  Speaker 2: US is working really closely with the likes of Tourism
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  Speaker 2: Australia Tourism and Tee and all of the key stakeholders
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  Speaker 2: here to make sure that we're all working towards that
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  Speaker 2: same goal, which is to build that inbound travel, to
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  Speaker 2: understand what markets are open to Darwin and who has
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  Speaker 2: the appetite to travel. And I think at the moment,
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  Speaker 2: if we take a step back and look broadly at
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  Speaker 2: the world, every country is in a different place in
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  Speaker 2: regards to their opening. You know, Europe is widely opens,
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  Speaker 2: widely open, but there are still parts and key markets
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  Speaker 2: for Australia in North Asia such as China that remains shut.
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  Speaker 2: So being able to look around the globe and identify
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  Speaker 2: who can actually come to Australia and more particularly the
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  Speaker 2: top end and who has an appetite to Well, if
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  Speaker 2: we do all that together, we should be able to
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  Speaker 2: really target that marketing in a track, possibly even new
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  Speaker 2: visitors to the top end who haven't considered Darwin as
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  Speaker 2: a holiday destination before. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Look, like I said, I think it sounds fantastic. I
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  Speaker 1: know plenty of Territorians love heading across to Singapore and
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  Speaker 1: it's been such a difficult couple of years for everybody.
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  Speaker 1: And I'd imagine it's been a really difficult couple of
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  Speaker 1: years for an airline like Singapore Airlines and then really
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  Speaker 1: trying to, you know, to get back into the different markets.
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  Speaker 1: How tough is it when you're sort of looking at
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  Speaker 1: those different destinations, having different requirements and maybe not being
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  Speaker 1: as open as others. Has it just meant that you've
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  Speaker 1: got to pivot a little bit?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. I think that the two words that have been
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  Speaker 2: most used within the business over the last two years
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  Speaker 2: have been agile and nimble. I think that's probably the
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  Speaker 2: best way to sum up what we've had to be
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  Speaker 2: over the last few years. I think that the key,
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  Speaker 2: the key thing here is the fact that you know,
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  Speaker 2: we know people have an appetite to travel, and we
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  Speaker 2: know that there is a desire to reconnect with those
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  Speaker 2: loved ones and those friends who they've not been able
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  Speaker 2: to connect with over the last two years, and ultimately
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  Speaker 2: what we want to do is provide them that opportunity.
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  Speaker 2: Right throughout the pandemic over the last two years, we
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  Speaker 2: continued to operate services. We helped to bring seventy one
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  Speaker 2: thousand people back to Australia, most of whom we were
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  Speaker 2: stranded Australians. Just over the last few months, we've operated
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  Speaker 2: fourteen repatriation flights in partnership with Defact to bring people
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  Speaker 2: back through the Howard Springs Quarantine Facility, and our cargo
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  Speaker 2: services have delivered one hundred and ten thousand tons of
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  Speaker 2: cargo you know, to Australia, most of which was was
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  Speaker 2: ppe COVID nineteen, vaccines, you know, essential medical supplies. So
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  Speaker 2: we've continued to operate to Australia and maintained that connectivity
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  Speaker 2: over the last two years, which has actually allowed us
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  Speaker 2: to turn those cargo services, which we're using passenger aircraft
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  Speaker 2: to fly cargo, to actually turn them into passenger flights
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  Speaker 2: really quickly, and that's allowed us to sort of ramp
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  Speaker 2: up and put that capacity and that connectivity back into
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  Speaker 2: the market. What we need to do now is to
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  Speaker 2: grow that, you know, to grow the demand, to grow
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  Speaker 2: the traveling numbers, and that is difficult when you've got
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  Speaker 2: a different mix of regulations and requirements around the world.
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  Speaker 2: But the last two years we've learned to adapt very
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  Speaker 2: quickly and we're very confident that, you know, as we
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  Speaker 2: work together with our key partners, we'll be able to
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  Speaker 2: drive that demand.
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  Speaker 1: So Carl three flights a week to begin with, hoping
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  Speaker 1: to get up to five flights a week. Is this
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  Speaker 1: going to be a permanent route.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, So we're actually starting with once a week and
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  Speaker 2: then we've got two twice two services throughout April, the
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  Speaker 2: seventh and the fourteenth, where we're operating twice a week.
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  Speaker 2: From the first of April. The plan is to go
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  Speaker 2: to three times weekly and we've got our fingers crossed
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  Speaker 2: that we can we can achieve that goal. The key
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  Speaker 2: thing here is that we have been a consistent presence
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  Speaker 2: in the Australian market for fifty five years this year
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  Speaker 2: and Darwin was a key part of our global network
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  Speaker 2: with Silk Care prior to the pandemic. We operated for
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  Speaker 2: eleven years between eighty eight and ninety nine with Singapore
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  Speaker 2: Airlines aircraft the A three tens. It was just the
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  Speaker 2: financial crisis of ninety seven that saw us need to
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  Speaker 2: pull out, So you know our desire to make this work,
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  Speaker 2: to build the route, to try and get back at
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  Speaker 2: some point in the future. We don't know when, but
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  Speaker 2: back to that daily operation with Darwin. That is what
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  Speaker 2: we're here to do. We have an unwavering commitment to
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  Speaker 2: Australia and have done for fifty five years. So when
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  Speaker 2: you ask me whether this is a permanent route, I
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  Speaker 2: don't think anyone can say anything is permanent after the
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  Speaker 2: last two years if we've not learned anything. But it
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  Speaker 2: is certainly our intention that we get ourselves back to
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  Speaker 2: that pre pandemic level of daily flights and again making
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  Speaker 2: Darwin a really key entry point for visitors into.
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  Speaker 1: The top end. I think that there will be a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people listening this morning who are pleased to
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  Speaker 1: hear that. I know that you know that sometimes here
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  Speaker 1: in the territory feel like we're sort of forgotten a
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  Speaker 1: little bit when it comes to flights and you know,
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  Speaker 1: being able to travel around the world and even around Australia.
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  Speaker 1: So I think that this is a really good thing
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  Speaker 1: and a lot of people are going to be very
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  Speaker 1: pleased to hear that this direct flight or that this
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  Speaker 1: flight is underway.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely and we're excited to be back. I think again,
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  Speaker 2: as I mentioned right at the start, this is a
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  Speaker 2: great boost of confidence to everyone over the last two years.
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  Speaker 2: It shows that we've taken that first step on the
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  Speaker 2: path to genuine recovery for international travel and we're really
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  Speaker 2: looking forward to driving that forward.
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  Speaker 1: Cal Just out of interest, how many hours does it
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  Speaker 1: take to get from Darwin to Singapore.
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  Speaker 2: It's about four and a half hours, so I believe
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  Speaker 2: correct me if I'm wrong. It's about the same time
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  Speaker 2: to get to Singapore, effect maybe a touch quicker sometimes
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  Speaker 2: than it is to get to any other major capital
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  Speaker 2: city in Australia from Darwin. So I don't know why
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  Speaker 2: you'd go anywhere else in Australia when you can just
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  Speaker 2: nip over to Singapore for a bit of shopping and
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  Speaker 2: some food. I think that would be fantastic.
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  Speaker 1: Ah, good stuff. Well, Carl Schubert, the Regional Manager Public
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  Speaker 1: Affairs and Government Relations at Singapore Airlines, really appreciate your time.
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  Speaker 1: This morning, and everybody very excited to see this plane
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  Speaker 1: touchdown on a bit later this afternoon.
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  Speaker 2: Katie, great to talk, Take care and hopefully we'll catch
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  Speaker 2: you in the top end soon.
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  Speaker 1: Sounds good, Thanks Carl. That is Carl Schubert there, who
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  Speaker 1: is the Singapore air Lines Regional Manager of Public Affairs
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  Speaker 1: and Government Relations at Singapore air Lines. So exciting news,
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  Speaker 1: I think for a lot of Territorians. I know that
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  Speaker 1: quite a few of us like to get across two
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  Speaker 1: places like Singapore, be able to go for a long weekend,
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  Speaker 1: and prior to COVID, it is something that people enjoyed
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  Speaker 1: quite often. As you just heard there from Carl, it's
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  Speaker 1: pretty fast to get to those locations like Singapore, but
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  Speaker 1: also in a lot of cases a bit cheaper for
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: us than what it is to fly within Australia, which
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: is quite believable. But prior to COVID it was the case.
• 10:04
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• 10:06
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• 10:08
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• 10:10
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