Singapore Airlines will fly three A380s per day to London next summer

The latest in a series of capacity adjustments for Singapore Airlines during the northern summer 2019 season was announced this week, with the news that three out of four daily flights to and from London Heathrow will feature the airline’s largest aircraft, the Airbus A380, during the peak European holiday season in July and August.

Suites awards on one of the airline’s most popular routes are usually hard to come by. Here there are now over 160 up for grabs across these two popular travel months.

This is the second year the airline has flown three times per day to and from London with the A380, with a similar capacity increase loaded on the route over the same dates in 2018.

The schedule

Here’s how the summer schedule for Singapore Airlines’ flights to and from London, both prior to and after the two-month A380 capacity boost.

This is the regular schedule on the route with two A380s operating per day, alongside two 777-300ERs. The seat types in First and Business Class are also shown.

Summer schedule (Until 30th June 2019 and from 1st September 2019)

All flights operate daily
* Arrives next day

From 1st July 2019 until 31st August 2019 the SQ306/305 flight, usually operated by the Boeing 777-300ER Version 2, is substituted with an Airbus A380 Version 1. This change is highlighted in yellow in the timetable below.

Peak summer schedule (1st July 2019 to 31st August 2019)

All flights operate daily
* Arrives next day

More Suites

This announcement of course means great news for those already booked in the small four-seat 2013 First Class cabin on SQ306/305 during July and August. The seat map will now look like this, the 2006 Suites cabin:

You should log on to your booking to choose the best option sooner rather than later, especially if you’re flying as a couple and want to secure the double bed arrangement. Only two such options exist in this cabin – 2C/D and 3C/D.

You can get into 2C/D (normally blocked for selection due to the bassinet positions) by calling Singapore Airlines. See our A380v1 guide for details.

Solo travellers should opt for 3A or 3F in our opinion, the only window seats in this cabin featuring three windows (the others must suffer with only two). Avoid row 4 if you can, due to galley and toilet proximity.

KrisFlyer awards

London is not a cheap redemption but relative to other European cities, which attract the same miles rates, it tends to be priced highly for revenue tickets. That makes a redemption potentially good sense, provided you’re flying from Singapore to London.

Otherwise you would be changing flights once or twice at an airport like Dubai or Helsinki to get a good fare in a premium cabin to this popular city.

These are the KrisFlyer award ticket rates for the Singapore – London route.

We checked Suites award availability in both directions on the SQ306/305 flights, upgraded from the 777 to the A380, during July and August next year.

With an increase from four of the 2013 First Class seats to 12 of the 2006 Suites on each flight, the airline has been quite generous in loading a good level of availability, with many dates featuring two saver awards in this cabin – ideal for the ‘couple experience’.

Here’s how SQ306 from Singapore to London looks, with a total of 83 saver award seats currently on offer in this cabin during July and August.

Singapore to London (SQ306 – Suites)

Correct at 21st December 2018. WL – Waitlist

Correct at 21st December 2018. WL – Waitlist

For the London to Singapore sector, if you can also stomach the hefty £219 (S$380) taxes and fees per person, there are 84 saver award seats across the two-month period as shown below.

London to Singapore (SQ305 – Suites)

Correct at 21st December 2018. WL – Waitlist

Correct at 21st December 2018. WL – Waitlist

More Business Class, but an older version

Arguably a downgrade in Business Class, the A380 Version 1 features the 2006 J seats in this cabin, which is showing its age on many aircraft and has an older IFE system.

As the schedules above show, the July and August 2019 Singapore Airlines services to and from London now offer the 2017 J seat on one flight (SQ322/321), the 2013 J seat on another (SQ318/319) and the 2006 J seat on the remaining two (SQ306/305 and SQ308/321).

Other A380 route changes in summer 2019

There are a few other changes to the Singapore Airlines A380 schedules next summer, including a daily Tokyo service we wrote about last week, running for six months from the end of April to the end of October.

The other changes are:

• Delhi SQ403/406: A380 switches to 777-300ER 1st July 2019 – 31st August 2019
• Frankfurt / JFK SQ25/26: switches to A380v1 (from A380v2) 1st June 2019 – 26th October 2019
• Melbourne SQ217/218: A380 switches to 777-300ER 27th April 2019 – 26th October 2019, except 17th June 2019 – 31st July 2019
• Mumbai SQ423/424: A380 switches to 777-300ER 17th June 2019 – 31st July 2019

As always we’ve updated our First Class seats by route, Business Class seats by route and Premium Economy seats by route guides to help you know exactly what cabin type to expect on your next Singapore Airlines flight by route and flight number.

Summary

An excellent dose of Suites saver award availability has been added at a peak time of year on a popular route with this capacity upgrade.

We would strongly recommend snapping up these award seats soon, as they aren’t likely to remain available for long during this season.

In Business Class unfortunately this news means more of the older 2006 seats will be flying on the London flights during July and August next year, though a Boeing 777 flight with the newer 2013 seats remains an option each day as does the daily A380 Version 3 flying to and from London with the latest 2017 J seats (see our review).

Do bear in mind the high taxes and fees associated with the London to Singapore direction, even for award tickets, though for a saver Suites redemption it might just be worth it.

Hat tip to Routesonline.

(Cover Photo: Josh Hallett)