New Air Deal Makes London-NY Possible on SIA

Few were expecting to see Singapore Airlines Airbus A380s serving destinations in the eastern United States. But now there appears a distinct possibility that this will happen, thanks to a new and very liberal air service agreement between the United Kingdom and Singapore that would allow Singapore Airlines to operate services from London to the United States. Credit: Airbus SAS 2007/C. Brinkmann

The chances of Singapore Airlines serving major U.S. destinations east of the Mississippi with Airbus A380 superjumbos may have gone up significantly, thanks to a landmark new aviation agreement between the United Kingdom and Singapore.

Singapore and the UK have initialled a deal that the UK government says is even more liberal than the "Open Skies" air services agreements between the United States and many other countries.

Today's UK-Singapore air services deal will allow the airlines of both sides to operate services between the other country and any third country. Importantly, it is the first agreement that gives unfettered access to the London-U.S. market to a non-European Union (EU) or U.S. airline.

The new deal removes all restrictions on air services between the UK and Singapore. It opens access to each country's aviation market for the other country's airlines, including flights to onward destinations in other countries, and applies state-aid rules to ensure fair competition.

Although Singapore Airlines (SIA) serves Newark nonstop from Singapore with Airbus A340-500s and flies one-stop to New York JFK via Frankfurt, until now it hasn’t flown to other major destinations in the eastern United States.

Now, Singapore's new aviation agreement with the UK could allow SIA to load up A380s -- or other aircraft in its fleet, such as Boeing 777-300ERs -- with passengers at Singapore to fly west to the UK, and then fill the aircraft up again at Heathrow or Manchester to fly on to major destinations throughout much of the U.S.

The agreement also finalizes a new treaty that liberalizes arrangements on a wide range of further issues including airline codesharing, fair competition and ground handling.

Codesharing is the practice whereby an airline puts its own flight number on a partner carrier's flight, and takes seat bookings on that flight, even though it isn’t operating the flight itself. Use of the practice is particularly widespread among airlines that are members of the same airline alliance, such as Star, oneworld, or SkyTeam.

Today's deal removes or relaxes restrictions on:

• Airlines' rights to pick up and set down passengers and cargo at intermediate or beyond points;
• The right of airlines to operate services within each other's countries, and from each others' countries to other points; and
• Airlines' rights to enter co-operative arrangements such as codesharing.

Today's deal prevents fair competition from being distorted by government subsidy or other means. It also incorporates European law on the right of establishment, extending the benefits of the agreement to all EU airlines.

The new UK-Singapore air service agreement will go into effect on March 30, 2008. This is also the implementation date for Stage 1 of the EU-U.S. aviation agreement that opens the transatlantic market to all European and US carriers.

• Video: Airbus A300 Look-Back
• Video: Southwest Airlines' New Boarding Process
• Image Gallery: Eye-Catching Airliner Color Schemes