Singapore, Apr 08: Singapore Airlines (SiA) said today it will defer placing new aircraft orders amid dwindling passenger demand due to a global health scare sparked by a killer respiratory disease. "We have advised both aircraft makers of our position and told them we hope to revisit this issue once the international situation becomes clear," an SiA spokesman said.
But SiA, Asia's most profitable carrier, said deliveries of 10 Boeing 777 aircraft this year and in 2004, as well as five airbus A340-500 orders due from the second half of this year, will proceed as scheduled.
In February, SiA announced it had requested manufacturers for proposals on new aircraft as part of its fleet modernisation programme and t o increase capacity. The carrier said at that time it expected to place new orders later this year.
But last week, SiA announced plans to cut 125 weekly flights, or 13.6 percent of total capacity, as more people deferred travel plans due to fears of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which has killed more than 100 people out of some 2,800 cases worldwide, most of them in east Asia.
As scientists race to find a treatment for the SARS virus tourism in the region is reeling due to the plunge in the number of travellers.
Bureau Report