Singapore Airlines records low passenger numbers on Canberra flights

Singapore Airlines struggled to fill its planes in the first week it flew between Canberra and Wellington in New Zealand, data has revealed.

The International Airline Activity report by the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development showed, on average, each of the six flights from Wellington to Canberra in September held just 94 passengers.

The Boeing 777 has 266 seats, meaning there was an average passenger load factor of just 35 per cent.

The Singapore to Canberra to Wellington rotation runs four times a week, with the first flight touching down in Canberra on September 21.

According to the report, the carrier’s strongest performing route was a direct service between Canberra and Singapore which was 68 per cent full.

In September, Singapore Airlines started the first direct international flights to the Australian capital in more than a decade.

It followed a long-fought campaign by the ACT Government and the Canberra Airport to attract carriers to the city.

The activity report shows Canberrans were more eager to leave the city than outsiders were to visit the capital.

A total of 1,421 passengers flew into Canberra on the 12 flights from Singapore and Wellington in September while 1,784 people flew out to those destinations.

On the 24 Singapore Airlines flights operating in the later part of September, only 13 tonnes of freight left Canberra, with no freight recorded entering the ACT.

The September figures were released as Qatar Airways announced earlier this week plans to start flights to Doha, becoming the Canberra Airport’s second international carrier.

Today FlyPelican also announced it would launch regional flights connecting Canberra and Dubbo 10 times a week from next month.

The October figures for international flights have not yet been released.