Services will commence on September 21 this year, offering a direct connection to both Wellington and Singapore, and onward connections from Singapore to the global Singapore Airlines network.
Four times a week flights to Canberra from Wellington are planned, scheduled to arrive at 08.35am on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, leaving for Wellington at 09.50am. Travelling in the reverse direction, passengers will arrive in Canberra from Wellington at 22.05pm and depart for Singapore at 23.30pm to arrive at 05.50am. The route will be operated by Boeing 777-200 aircraft fitted with 38 Business Class seats and 228 Economy Class seats.
This Thursday marked 90 days until Singapore Airlines’ inaugural flight touches down, with Aerocare to be responsible for flight operations, check-in and baggage handling for the route. Aerocare's Chief Executive, Glenn Rutherford, said the company would be hiring mostly Canberrans, and it had already started recruitment. These roles are in addition to the 15 local staff Singapore Airlines is employing in connection with the new route.
"For Aerocare this is an extraordinary opportunity for Canberra and our business and our staff. We're employing an additional approximately 40 people, investing around $2m in assets and equipment," Mr Rutherford said.
According to Greg McJarrow, ACT/NSW manager, preparations are on track for the first flight and early sales are encouraging.
"We've got a number of ticks in the boxes, so to speak. Sales have been very good, the support from the community has been absolutely fantastic thus far, so we're very excited," he said. "We're recruiting ourselves, we're employing a team of 17 people, two of which will be posted from Singapore and 15 will be local Canberrans or potentially local Canberrans."
