What is the significance of the Northern Winter and Summer Schedules

[Matt_01]

After reading a couple of posts in the SQ tips, trips and tales thread and another posted by @robtemt - SQ not publishing flights SIN-SYD it would seem like award availability has temporarily dried up with SQ from around 27 Mar 22. I am also searching for SQ awards for early Apr 22 and all so OW rewards. In the OW camp and depending on the route CX and IB have all but vanished, JL is hit and miss, BA seems to be unchanged. I am assuming that it has something to do with the northern winter schedule which seem to happen around this time each year.

So a question for the aviation enthusiasts what is the significance of the northern winter and summer schedule changes and why is it important.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

After reading a couple of posts in the SQ tips, trips and tales thread and another posted by @robtemt - SQ not publishing flights SIN-SYD it would seem like award availability has temporarily dried up with SQ from around 27 Mar 22. I am also searching for SQ awards for early Apr 22 and all so OW rewards. In the OW camp and depending on the route CX and IB have all but vanished, JL is hit and miss, BA seems to be unchanged. I am assuming that it has something to do with the northern winter schedule which seem to happen around this time each year.

So a question for the aviation enthusiasts what is the significance of the northern winter and summer schedule changes and why is it important.

Most simply - aligned with daylight saving times.

Also gives nice blocks of 6 months for airlines to plan flights and changing demand on winter and summer routes etc.

It's not just award availability that isn't showing on SQ, it's also regular paid seats. Which suggests they're waiting for their timetable and aircraft types before releasing the timetable (could see the re-introduction of first/suites for example).

 

[serfty]

Most simply - aligned with daylight saving times.

Agreed ...

Back in the 90's daylight saving for Northern and Southern timezones generally changed on the same weekend - 6 months each.

Airlines would use the opportunity to make often significant changes to schedules.

I supported an international freight computer system that would use data supplied on tapes (from a company called ABC) that contained the next six months planned flight schedules.

This system would endeavour to plan the most efficient routings.

Fun times ..

 

[Matt_01]

@MEL_Traveller and @serfty thanks for confirming I suspected as much, the AU flight schedules also change around late March/April and again in Sep/Oct each year. In the pre covid world we travelled international around March/April and again in Sep/Oct as these time frames also aligned to the the AU school holidays. As an aside I work for an international business and twice a year attendance on conference calls can and was hit and miss as staff adjusted to local daylight saving changes and rescheduling call timings.

I have already started booking the international sectors for Apr 22 that are available and will play catch up when other carriers load their schedules.

 

[Mattg]

There are also slot implications for airlines. At congested airports, you need to operate most of your slots in a given northern winter/summer season to get access to them again in the next winter/summer season. Allows for seasonal schedules, and as @MEL_Traveller said, the seasons are based around daylight savings time changes.