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Singapore Airlines will fly to Phuket from July to October

Capacity shortages in the SilkAir fleet have led to Singapore Airlines rostering a 777-200 on the Phuket route for 4 months this summer

SQ 772 (Blue Stahli Luân)

In a new schedule update, Singapore Airlines has added a daily service from Singapore to Phuket during July, August, September and October 2019, replacing one of the daily SilkAir flights on the route with a 266-seat Boeing 777-200.

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The schedule

The new flight replaces MI760/MI759 with almost identical timings on a daily basis from 1st July 2019 to 26th October 2019 inclusive.

Departure from Changi is at a very civilised 9.50am with 10.45am arrival in Phuket.

1st July 2019 to 26th October 2019
Flight From / To Aircraft Days
MI752 SIN0830 – HKT0935 320 Daily
SQ992 SIN0950 – HKT1045 772 Daily
MI754 SIN1320 – HKT1410 320 Daily
MI756 SIN1620 – HKT1710 320 Daily
MI758 SIN1830 – HKT1920 320 Daily

SilkAir flights use Boeing 737-800s on selected days

On the return flight the 777 leaves Phuket at 11.45am, landing back into Changi just after lunch at 2.40pm. This flight is slightly retimed compared to the original SilkAir operation, to allow a 1 hour ground time in Phuket, essential for a wide-body aircraft.

1st July 2019 to 26th October 2019
Flight From / To Aircraft Days
MI751 HKT1015 – SIN1305 320 Daily
SQ993 HKT1145 – SIN1440 772 Daily
MI753 HKT1455 – SIN1740 320 Daily
MI755 HKT1750 – SIN2040 320 Daily
MI757 HKT2010 – SIN2255 320 Daily

SilkAir flights use Boeing 737-800s on selected days

Barring any further changes, this morning service then reverts back to SilkAir for the northern winter season.

Phuket Hotel Beach (Sri panwa Phuket)
Over 10,000 passengers flock from Singapore to Phuket every week for its hotels and beaches. (Photo: Sri panwa Phuket)

Apart from SilkAir and Singapore Airlines, other carriers operating between Singapore and Phuket include:

  • Jetstar Asia (21 flights per week)
  • Scoot (16 flights per week)
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The aircraft

Singapore Airlines is deploying one of its five Boeing 777-200 aircraft to operate this flight.

It’s fitted with 38 of the 2009 Regional Business Class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration, and 228 Economy Class seats in a 3-3-3 configuration, though there are six ‘couple pairs’ to be had Economy Class.

SQ 777-200 Regional Biz 2 (Edwin Leong).jpg
2009 Regional Business Class on SIA’s Boeing 777. (Photo: Edwin Leong)

See our guide to this aircraft to know which seats to pick whichever class you’re travelling in.

If you haven’t tried the 2009 Regional Business Class seats before, check out our full review of the product on a Bangkok – Singapore flight.

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It’s certainly a comfortable way to travel on the short 2-hour flight to or from Phuket.

The reason

Singapore Airlines hasn’t served the Phuket market with its own aircraft since the 1990s. A short hop leisure route, it’s a perfect fit for high frequency operations using SilkAir’s narrow-body aircraft and Scoot A320s.

MI 7M8 2 (Boeing).jpg
The grounding of SilkAir’s 737 MAX fleet is causing a capacity shortage. (Photo: Boeing)

The continued grounding of SilkAir’s six Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, which shows no sign of any resolution before the northern winter season, has left the regional division short of capacity.

This has led Singapore Airlines to replace a few SilkAir flights on the network, including Brunei, Yangon and Kuala Lumpur in recent months, and now Phuket.

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KrisFlyer redemptions

Here are the KrisFlyer rates you’ll pay on the Phuket route, regardless of whether you fly with SilkAir or on this new Singapore Airlines flight.

KFtrans

KrisFlyer Redemption Singapore – Phuket
Saver Advantage
Economy 12,500 25,000
Business 21,500 40,000

As you would expect, with 38 Business Class seats fitted instead of 12 on board the SilkAir aircraft it replaces, award availability on these Singapore Airlines operated flights is wide open.

For example, we found at least six saver award seats in Business Class on SQ992 every single day in July, with the exception of a single day.

Unfortunately it’s not included in the July Spontaneous Escapes offer we covered yesterday, which only includes selected SilkAir flights on this route in Economy Class.

We wouldn’t be surprised to see the Singapore Airlines flight included in future months this summer though, as they will no doubt find it hard to fill 38 Business Class and 228 Economy Class seats every day in each direction, even at this popular timing.

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Summary

July to October is low season in Phuket with the highest rainfall levels (10 times the levels seen in January and February), and this additional capacity means even more KrisFlyer award space on the route during that period.

If you do want to travel though the Singapore Airlines flight offers full service in all cabins (as does SilkAir), and a spacious angle-flat bed in Business Class.

Star Alliance Gold passengers flying in Economy Class will also benefit from lounge access when flying on the Singapore Airlines service.

As always, our Business Class Seats by Route page has been fully updated today to reflect this new service. You can see exactly where the airline is flying its fleet by aircraft type and all-important Business Class seat type there.

(Cover Photo: Blue Stahli Luân)

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5 comments

  1. MI760/759,752/751 are all cancelled from July to Oct. so 2 MI flight replace by SQ993/992.
    also, there is a new MI750/749 running as well in July/Aug and Oct i think.
    also, SQ993/992 timing follow timing of MI752/751 in most days in Sept.
    maybe you want to update your article

  2. Booked some flights to Phuket for August on the SQ 772 scheduled – received an email this morning with flight time changes and an aircraft switch from 772 to 330. Also the flight numbers have changed to SQ994/995. When I try to do a dummy booking to see if there are additional flights on those days those days are completely unavailable for any seats.

  3. It looks like they also swapped an SQ 777-200 in for Feb 2020. I haven’t checked all the dates, but my flight on Feb 6 was just changed to SQ from MI.

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