Singapore Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong told reporters on his return home Wednesday that he had put forward the 12 month timeframe during "positive and friendly" negotiations this week with his Australian counterpart John Anderson in Canberra.

"What I asked for is the first trans-Pacific flight by SIA should take place in about 12 months time," Yeo said in remarks reported in Singapore newspapers.

He said Anderson had "taken note" of his request and an exact deadline for SIA access should be ready by mid-2005.

Qantas reacted strongly to the prospect of SIA competing on the route where it earns about 10 percent of its overall profits, renewing calls for Anderson to delay SIA's entry because of ongoing "mayhem" in international aviation markets.

Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon challenged claims that SIA's entry would lead to cheaper trans-Pacific flights and said there was already intense competition on the Sydney to Los Angeles route.

"Lower fares are a little bit unlikely," he told a media briefing. "They (SIA) are not known around the world as a low fare airline.

"There is an abundance of seats and an abundance of cheap fares."

He said Qantas was struggling to compete because it did not get the government backing enjoyed by many of its rivals, including SIA.

"Singapore Airlines should not be granted access to the trans-Pacific route at this time," he said.

Dixon denied his case was undermined by the fact that he was unveiling a record interim profit when he made the remarks, saying he merely wanted to ensure Qantas was not unfairly disadvantaged.

"The situation with Singapore Airlines is that we do not have the same rights out of Singapore," he said.

Singapore and Australia signed a partial "open skies" agreement in 2003 which gave Qantas unrestricted rights to fly into Singapore's Changi airport and onwards, providing greater access to Europe.

However, Qantas successfully lobbied for trans-Pacific routes to be exclused because of an international travel slump caused by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States and then the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis and the war in Iraq.

Officials said then the issue would be revisited when the market stabilised and Canberra has indicated in recent months that it will be difficult to justify SIA's continued exclusion.

Singapore's Yeo said Anderson "appreciated the fact that there was a commitment made in September 2003 that we will proceed onto this last issue when the aviation industry has stabilised.

"And indeed he recognised the fact that it has not just stabilised but the airlines concerned are actually doing very well," Yeo added.

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