Update 29th April Singapore Airlines will now not sell passenger tickets on SIN-BKK flights from 4th May to 31st May 2020, following an extension of the incoming flights ban by the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand. Affected flights will therefore carry cargo only, with BKK-SIN sectors also accepting passengers.
On Monday this week Singapore Airlines announced its limited flight schedule for May 2020, replicating April’s skeleton network of 15 cities with approximately 70 weekly flights. Today the airline has stretched the same flying schedule out by another month, extending 96% capacity cuts to its passenger services all the way to 30th June 2020.
In addition to the 324 Singapore Airlines and SilkAir passenger flights programmed for May 2020, there will be an equivalent schedule of 313 flights in June 2020. June has one fewer day than May, accounting for the small difference in total services, since the actual flying programme remains effectively identical across both months.
There would normally be around 16,000 Singapore Airlines flights and 6,600 SilkAir flights in May and June 2020 combined.
Scoot has still to reveal what it’s flying schedule will be beyond its current passenger network of two destinations, Hong Kong and Perth, with that schedule currently extended only to 7th May 2020.
Flights still operating
Singapore Airlines and SilkAir will be running the following passenger flights to and from 15 cities during May and June 2020.
All flights not listed below are cancelled during this period, or will operate as cargo-only services.
| SIA Flights Operating (1 May – 30 Jun 2020) |
|||
| Bangkok (BKK) | |||
| Flight | Route | Days | Aircraft |
| SQ976* | SIN – BKK* | Mon, Fri, Sun* | 787* |
| SQ979 | BKK – SIN | Mon, Fri, Sun | 787 |
| * Except 4th May – 31st May (will carry cargo only on SIN-BKK flights) | |||
| Frankfurt (FRA) | |||
| Flight | Route | Days | Aircraft |
| SQ326 | SIN – FRA | Wed, Fri, Sun | 77W |
| SQ325 | FRA – SIN | Mon, Thu, Sat | 77W |
| Hanoi (HAN) | |||
| Flight | Route | Days | Aircraft |
| SQ175 | HAN – SIN | Fri | 359 R |
| Ho Chi Minh (SGN) | |||
| Flight | Route | Days | Aircraft |
| SQ177 | SGN – SIN | Mon, Thu | 787 |
| Jakarta (CGK) | |||
| Flight | Route | Days | Aircraft |
| SQ966 | SIN – CGK | Daily (ex. Tue, Sat) | 359 |
| SQ967 | CGK – SIN | Daily (ex. Tue, Sat) | 359 |
| Kuala Lumpur (KUL) | |||
| Flight | Route | Days | Aircraft |
| SQ104 | SIN – KUL | Mon, Wed, Fri | 359 |
| SQ105 | KUL – SIN | Mon, Wed, Fri | 359 |
| London (LHR) | |||
| Flight | Route | Days | Aircraft |
| SQ322 | SIN – LHR | Tue, Thu, Sat | 359 |
| SQ317 | LHR – SIN | Mon, Thu, Sat | 359 |
| Los Angeles (LAX) | |||
| Flight | Route | Days | Aircraft |
| SQ38 | SIN – LAX | Wed, Fri, Sun | 359 (3-class) |
| SQ37 | LAX – SIN | Mon, Wed, Sat | 359 (3-class) |
| Manila (MNL) | |||
| Flight | Route | Days | Aircraft |
| SQ910 | SIN – MNL | Mon, Fri | 359 R |
| SQ917 | MNL – SIN | Mon, Fri | 359 R |
| Seoul (ICN) | |||
| Flight | Route | Days | Aircraft |
| SQ600 | SIN – ICN | Wed, Sat | 359 R |
| SQ609 | ICN – SIN | Wed, Sat | 359 R |
| Shanghai (PVG) | |||
| Flight | Route | Days | Aircraft |
| SQ830 | SIN – PVG | Mon | 787 |
| SQ833 | PVG – SIN | Mon | 787 |
| Sydney (SYD) | |||
| Flight | Route | Days | Aircraft |
| SQ211 | SIN – SYD | Tue, Fri, Sun | 77W |
| SQ232 | SYD – SIN | Mon, Wed, Sat | 77W |
| Tokyo (NRT) | |||
| Flight | Route | Days | Aircraft |
| SQ638 | SIN – NRT | Thu, Sat, Sun | 787 |
| SQ637 | NRT – SIN | Thu, Sat, Sun | 787 |
| Zurich (ZRH) | |||
| Flight | Route | Days | Aircraft |
| SQ346 | SIN – ZRH | Wed, Fri, Sun | 77W |
| SQ345 | ZRH – SIN | Mon, Thu, Sat | 77W |
As with April, some interesting flying patterns continue such as Los Angeles being served by the 3-class A350 through the entire period to 30th June.
On the Frankfurt and Zurich flights, the operating aircraft will continue to remain on the ground in Europe for 24 hours before operating the return sector, presumably with the same set of crew, keeping overseas layovers at a minimum during the significant COVID-19 outbreak in that region.
| SilkAir Flights Operating (1 May – 30 Jun 2020) |
|||||||||
| Chongqing (CKG) | |||||||||
| Flight | Route | Days | Aircraft | ||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
| MI972 | SIN – CKG | ■ | □ | □ | □ | □ | □ | □ | 738 |
| MI971 | CKG – SIN | ■ | □ | □ | □ | □ | □ | □ | 738 |
SilkAir will continue to fly just a single weekly return services to Chongqing in China each Monday during both May and June 2020.
Cargo-only flights
While the flights listed above are available for passenger booking, Singapore Airlines and Scoot are both conducting cargo-only operations to destinations including Nanjing, Beijing, Auckland, Melbourne and Perth.
We outlined some of these operations, keeping a large number of the Boeing aircraft busy, in our April fleet update. That page also shows which of the airline’s aircraft are temporarily stored during this period, including all A330s and A380s.
More recent news confirms that four of the airline’s Airbus A380s are set to head to Alice Springs for long-term storage on 26th April 2020.
What if your flight has been cancelled?
You may be protected by SIA’s latest travel waiver policy, in which case you can:
- Apply for a full cash refund; or
- Receive a travel credit voucher including a bonus credit against a future booking
See our article here covering the latest travel waiver policy for details, or check the SIA website here.
July onwards
Singapore Airlines is showing an ‘optimistic’ schedule in GDS from 1st July 2020, with almost complete normality restored to the flying programme.
These plans are subject to significant further cuts based on the coronavirus situation closer to the time, so we expect a revised service reduction list for July 2020 to be announced closer to the time.
Summary
Singapore Airlines will retain effectively the exact same passenger connections in May 2020 and June 2020 as it offered in April this year, maintaining some connections to Europe, the US and Australia despite cutting overall flight volumes by more than 96% across the mainline carrier and full service regional subsidiary SilkAir.
Jakarta continues to see the most services, continuing to operate five days per week on the 3-class A350, with most other routes running between one and three times per week.
In addition to these passenger services, Singapore Airlines and Scoot are also operating belly hold cargo-only flights to some other cities, including Auckland, Melbourne and Beijing.
It’s too early to tell at this stage how the group’s timetable will look into July 2020, though with the coronavirus situation showing little signs of improvement either in Singapore or many of the airline’s other key markets, there will almost certainly be many more cuts to come with anything resembling a ‘normal’ schedule now unlikely to appear until much later in 2020.
Updated information on the SIA Group’s flying schedules can be found at the Singapore Airlines website, which may receive progressive updates so do check the lists for the latest information.
(Cover Photo: TK Kurikawa / Shutterstock)
what about AKL as that is a 3 x weekly destination too?