A second batch of Singapore Airlines aircraft were flown to long-term storage last month, including four of the carrier’s flagship Airbus A380s. With only a skeleton passenger and cargo flying network, we revisit our list of active and stored aircraft in the fleet during May 2020.
Less than half the fleet is now flying, with the airline keeping 59 Airbus A350s, Boeing 777-300 / -300ERs and Boeing 787-10s active over the last few weeks, as five SIA aircraft types remain firmly out of service, including all Airbus A330s and Airbus A380s.
Meanwhile in a trading update on 8th May 2020, the airline confirmed that it is in negotiations with Airbus and Boeing to ‘adjust’ its forthcoming aircraft deliveries.
Headline numbers
Here are the Singapore Airlines passenger fleet totals at 8th May 2020.
| CAAS Database: | 130 | ||
| For disposal: | -3 | ||
| In Service: | 127 | ||
| In maintenance / stored: | -68 | ||
| Active: | 59 |
The official registered aircraft data in combination with analysis of actual flight movements over the last few weeks allows us to determine the actual ‘in service’ fleet (available to the airline) of 127 planes at 8th May 2020, 59 of which are currently active.
Click here to see the official CAAS list of registered aircraft in Singapore at 30th April 2020.
Singapore Airlines Fleet at 8th May 2020
This table shows the Singapore Airlines fleet including how many of each aircraft type are legally registered (‘Registered’), available to the airline (‘In Service’) and currently operating revenue passenger or cargo flights (‘Active’).
| Type |
Registered | In Service | Active |
A330-300 (full details) |
9 |
8 | 0 |
A350-900 (full details) |
26 | 26 | 14 |
| A350-900 Regional(full details) |
15 |
15 | 9 |
| A350-900 ULR(full details) |
7 | 7 | 0 |
A380-800 v1 (full details) |
6 | 6 | 0 |
| A380-800 v2(full details) |
6 | 6 | 0 |
| A380-800 v3(full details) |
7 | 7 | 0 |
777-200 (full details) |
3 | 1 | 0 |
| 777-200ER(full details) |
4 | 4 | 0 |
777-300 (full details) |
5 | 5 | 3 |
| 777-300ER(full details) |
27 | 27 | 18 |
787-10 (full details) |
15 | 15 | 15 |
| Total | 130 | 127 | 59 |
Correct at 8th May 2020.
Five aircraft types in the Singapore Airlines fleet remain in storage this month and are not currently being flown at all:
- Airbus A330
- Airbus A350 ULR
- Airbus A380
- Boeing 777-200
- Boeing 777-200ER
Differences between registered and in service aircraft in the table above:
No longer in service (but still legally registered)
- A330-300 9V-SSB has already stopped flying for return to lessor. Onward operator is HiFly Malta (with registration 9H-HFF), though it currently remains registered to SIA.
- 777-200 9V-SQJ has already stopped flying for disposal.
- 777-200 9V-SRM has already stopped flying for disposal.
Changes since our last update
Since April 2020 (and since the CAAS database at 31st March 2020) the following changes have been recorded:
Airbus A380-800
- 9V-SKT was relocated to long-term storage in Alice Springs on 26th April 2020.
- 9V-SKW was relocated to long-term storage in Alice Springs on 26th April 2020.
- 9V-SKY was relocated to long-term storage in Alice Springs on 26th April 2020.
- 9V-SKZ was relocated to long-term storage in Alice Springs on 26th April 2020.
More aircraft fly to Alice Springs
The big news this month was the relocation of four Singapore Airlines Airbus A380s to long-term aircraft storage at APAS in Alice Springs, Australia.
These were the largest aircraft ever to land at the remote Northern Territories airport, and joined three of the airline’s Boeing 777-200ERs flown there in early April.
Here’s a video from Chris Tangey, who filmed the final aircraft (9V-SKZ) landing that morning.
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It certainly kicks up a lot of dust (imagine what the first one was like!).
Two more Scoot Airbus A320s also flew to Alice Springs on the same day, joining another pair