Singapore Airlines Fleet & Storage Report: August 2020

The slow increase in Singapore Airlines flights over the last few months sees the airline moving towards around 8% of usual capacity levels by October 2020, with the carrier currently deploying around 56 of its passenger aircraft on a mixture of both regular and cargo-only flights based on the last two weeks.

Operation of the airline’s less efficient Boeing 777-300 and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft types has been almost completely eliminated since our last update, even on cargo flights, with the airline concentrating its services on Airbus A350s and Boeing 787s almost across the board.

Meanwhile another Airbus A380 has made its way to Alice Springs for long-term storage and SIA has restored six former NokScoot Boeing 777-200s into its registered fleet, following the demise of that carrier a couple of months ago.

Five SIA aircraft types remain firmly out of service, including all Airbus A330s and Airbus A380s.

Headline numbers

Here are the Singapore Airlines passenger fleet totals at 12th August 2020.

	CAAS Database:	131
	For disposal:	-7
	In Service:	124
	In maintenance / stored:	-68
	Active:	56

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 124 planes at 12th August 2020, 56 of which are currently active.

Click here to see the official CAAS list of registered aircraft in Singapore at 31st July 2020.

Singapore Airlines Fleet at 12th August 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)	8	8	0
A350-900 (full details)	26	26	23
A350-900 Regional (full details)	15	15	14
A350-900 ULR (full details)	7	7	0
A380-800 v1 (full details)	6	6	0
A380-800 v2 (full details)	5	5	0
A380-800 v3 (full details)	8	8	0
777-200 (full details)	7	0	0
777-200ER (full details)	3	3	0
777-300 (full details)	4	4	1
777-300ER (full details)	27	27	4
787-10 (full details)	15	15	14
Total	131	124	56

Correct at 12th August 2020.

Here are the differences between the registered and in service fleet totals in the table above:

No longer in service (but still legally registered)

• 777-200 9V-SQJ has already stopped flying for disposal.
• 777-200s 9V-SRG, -SRH, -SRL, SRJ, SRP and SRQ are ex-NokScoot aircraft and re-joined the Singapore Airlines registered fleet in July 2020. They are all stored in Alice Springs and will not operate again for the airline. For eventual disposal.

Fleet activity

Only five aircraft types remain in service with the airline, as shown in the table below outlining the number in use at each of our recent fleet update ‘snapshots’.

SIA fleet activity timeline
Aircraft	Apr 2020	May 2020	Jun 2020	Aug 2020
Airbus A350	16	14	21	23
Airbus A350 Regional	10	9	12	14
Boeing 777-300	4	3	2	1
Boeing 777-300ER	18	18	11	4
Boeing 787-10	15	15	15	14

Almost all Airbus A350s and Boeing 787-10s are now in consistent use, while the deployment of Boeing 777-300s and -300ERs has been progressively reduced to almost zero in recent weeks.

Here’s a graphical look at the active vs. stored fleet, including the average daily utilisation of the active aircraft during the last 14 days.

The average daily utilisation of active aircraft is lowest for the few Boeing 777-300 and -300ERs that remain flying, at around 1.5 hours per day. Those fly only a handful of times a week based on data from the last 14 days.

Airbus A350s and Boeing 787s on the other hand are far busier, with the active aircraft in those fleets clocking up six to eight hours per day on average.

This still falls short of usual utilisation rates for these aircraft however, in the order of 11-12 hours per day.

Five aircraft types in the Singapore Airlines fleet remain in storage this month and are not currently being flown at all, which has been the case since early April 2020:

• Airbus A330
• Airbus A350 ULR
• Airbus A380
• Boeing 777-200
• Boeing 777-200ER

Fleet disposals

Three aircraft permanently left the Singapore Airlines fleet since our last update:

• 777-200 9V-SQN, which was re-registered to Boeing Aircraft Holding Co. as N785BC on 10th June 2020 and flew to Phoenix Goodyear Airport for storage on 18th June 2020.
• 777-200ER 9V-SVM, which was re-registered to Boeing Aircraft Holding Co. as N784BC on 17th July 2020 and flew to Phoenix Goodyear Airport for storage on 23rd July 2020.
• 777-300 9V-SYI, which was re-registered to Boeing Aircraft Holding Co. as N792BC on 21st July 2020 and flew to Phoenix Goodyear Airport for storage on 30th July 2020.

While the 777-200s were expected, this marks the first Boeing 777-300 disposal from the fleet in over three years, suggesting the four remaining aircraft (three of which are now stored as you’ll see below) are on borrowed time.

Fleet additions

No new aircraft deliveries this month, however the demise of NokScoot meant Singapore Airlines took back six Boeing 777-200s in July 2020, aircraft it owns outright and which were on operating leases to the Thai low-cost carrier.

NokScoot Aircraft returned to SIA (July 2020)
Registration	Previous Registration		Age (years)
	NokScoot	Scoot
9V-SRG	HS-XBB	9V-OTF	19.2
9V-SRH	HS-XBC	—	19.1
9V-SRJ	HS-XBD	—	18.6
9V-SRL	HS-XBE	—	18.0
9V-SRP	HS-XBF	—	16.9
9V-SRQ	HS-XBG	—	16.9

The SIA Group took a one-off charge of S$127m in Q1 of FY20/21, from write downs of the NokScoot’s seven Boeing 777-200s, including provisions for liquidation costs.

The one remaining aircraft, HS-XBA (formerly 9V-SRF) has not been transferred back to the Singapore register as of 31st July 2020. It will presumably follow in the next update.

The flying network

August to October 2020 sees the busiest passenger schedule for Singapore Airlines services since most flights were cut in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

By October 2020, 29 passenger routes will be served with over 160 weekly services offered. The latest cities on the list include Milan, Istanbul and Perth.

There are also five SilkAir routes by early September, plus 12 Scoot routes, though in both cases there is some overlap with existing SIA destinations.

Fun fact: For every passenger flight operated by Singapore Airlines at the moment there are three cargo-only flights using passenger aircraft, covering a much wider network of cities.

The storage report: August 2020

Here’s how the fleet activity looked on 10th August 2020, which gives us an indication of which aircraft are stored (last flew 14+ days ago), compared to those in ‘active storage’ (last flew more recently).

Last flew > 60 days ago
Last flew 14-59 days ago
Last flew < 14 days ago

‘Last flew’ dates relate to the aircraft’s last revenue passenger or cargo-only flight.

Airbus A330-300

All the airline’s available A330 aircraft remain stored in Singapore. None have flown for well over two months.

Aircraft	Location	Last flew	Days ago
9V-STC	SIN	2 Apr 20	130
9V-SSC	SIN	27 Mar 20	136
9V-SSD	SIN	31 Mar 20	132
9V-SSE	SIN	27 Mar 20	136
9V-SSF	SIN	13 Mar 20	150
9V-SSG	SIN	23 Mar 20	140
9V-SSH	SIN	28 Mar 20	135
9V-SSI	SIN	25 Nov 19	259

9V-SSI has not made an appearance, even on a test flight, since sustaining tail damage during a landing accident in November 2019.

Airbus A350-900

Only three of SIA’s Airbus A350-900s (in 3-class long-haul configuration) are stored at Changi, with the other 23 aircraft deployed on at least one flight in the last 14 days.

On average, each active aircraft in this fleet is currently flying six times per week.

Aircraft	Location	Last flew	Days ago
9V-SMA	SIN	8 Aug 20	2
9V-SMB	SIN	27 Jun 20	44
9V-SMC	SIN	10 Aug 20	0
9V-SMD	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SME	SIN	15 Mar 20	148
9V-SMF	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SMG	SIN	10 Aug 20	0
9V-SMH	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SMI	SIN	6 Aug 20	4
9V-SMJ	SIN	10 Aug 20	0
9V-SMK	SIN	10 Aug 20	0
9V-SML	SIN	10 Aug 20	0
9V-SMM	SIN	27 Jul 20	14
9V-SMN	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SMO	SIN	10 Aug 20	0
9V-SMP	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SMQ	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SMR	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SMS	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SMT	SIN	8 Aug 20	2
9V-SMU	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SMV	SIN	8 Aug 20	2
9V-SMW	SIN	10 Aug 20	0
9V-SMY	SIN	10 Aug 20	0
9V-SMZ	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SJA	SIN	10 Aug 20	0

Airbus A350-900 Regional

In our last update there were only three Airbus A350-900 Regional aircraft in storage, but currently only one is now not flying, with 14 active in the last two weeks.

On average, each active aircraft in this fleet is currently flying eight times per week.

Aircraft	Location	Last flew	Days ago
9V-SHA	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SHB	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SHC	SIN	10 Aug 20	0
9V-SHD	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SHE	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SHF	SIN	24 Jul 20	17
9V-SHG	SIN	10 Aug 20	0
9V-SHH	SIN	8 Aug 20	2
9V-SHI	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SHJ	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SHK	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SHL	SIN	10 Aug 20	0
9V-SHM	SIN	10 Aug 20	0
9V-SHN	SIN	8 Aug 20	2
9V-SHO	SIN	8 Aug 20	2

Airbus A350-900 ULR

All the airline’s 7 Airbus A350-900 ULR aircraft remain stored in Singapore, having not flown any passenger services since March 2020.

These aircraft have all conducted short functional check flights at Changi over recent weeks, however there appears to be no intention to return them to any form of service.

Aircraft	Location	Last flew	Days ago
9V-SGA	SIN	25 Mar 20	138
9V-SGB	SIN	22 Mar 20	141
9V-SGC	SIN	30 Mar 20	133
9V-SGD	SIN	25 Mar 20	138
9V-SGE	SIN	24 Mar 20	139
9V-SGF	SIN	27 Mar 20	136
9V-SGG	SIN	23 Mar 20	140

Non-stop SIA flights to and from Los Angeles continue to be operated by 3-class long-haul Airbus A350-900s, which are coping with the non-stop westbound LAX-SIN flight against the headwinds without issue, probably due to low payload allowing more fuel to be carried.

Fun fact: Airbus A350-900 ULRs have a deactivated forward cargo hold, reducing the aircraft’s cargo carrying capacity by over 50% compared to the airline’s other A350s. That makes them unsuited to cargo-only operations.

Airbus A380-800

Seven of the airline’s flagship Airbus A380 aircraft are now in long-term storage at Alice Springs, with the other 12 aircraft stored at Changi.

No revenue flights with the A380s have been flown since March 2020, and they are not being used in the current schedule through 24th October 2020.

Aircraft	Location	Last flew	Days ago
9V-SKF	SIN	24 Mar 20	139
9V-SKG	SIN	25 Mar 20	138
9V-SKH	SIN	22 Mar 20	141
9V-SKI	SIN	20 Mar 20	143
9V-SKJ	SIN	20 Mar 20	143
9V-SKK	ASP	21 Mar 20	142
9V-SKL	SIN	27 Mar 20	136
9V-SKM	SIN	21 Mar 20	142
9V-SKN	SIN	15 Oct 19	300
9V-SKP	ASP	24 Mar 20	139
9V-SKQ	ASP	26 Mar 20	137
9V-SKR	SIN	19 Mar 20	144
9V-SKS	SIN	12 Mar 20	151
9V-SKT	ASP	18 Mar 20	145
9V-SKU	SIN	25 Mar 20	138
9V-SKV	SIN	28 Mar 20	135
9V-SKW	ASP	26 Mar 20	137
9V-SKY	ASP	27 Mar 20	136
9V-SKZ	ASP	30 Mar 20	133

9V-SKN has now been refitted to Version 3 cabin configuration, with the latest Suites and Business Class seats, bringing the variant to a total of eight A380s. It’s unclear whether any further aircraft will be refitted.

Boeing 777-200

SIA’s recently inherited set of six Boeing 777-200s from NokScoot are now stored in Alice Springs.

Aircraft	Location	Last flew	Days ago
9V-SRG	ASP	1 Feb 20	191
9V-SRH	ASP	23 Mar 20	140
9V-SRJ	ASP	7 Jun 20	64
9V-SRL	ASP	24 Mar 20	139
9V-SRP	ASP	24 Mar 20	139
9V-SRQ	ASP	15 Jun 20	56

Last flight and number of days shown reflects last passenger service with NokScoot. These aircraft are almost certainly for disposal.

Boeing 777-200ER

All 3 of the airline’s Boeing 777-200ERs are stored in Alice Springs, likely to be a long-term arrangement, with 9V-SVM having now left the fleet.

Aircraft	Location	Last flew	Days ago
9V-SVB	ASP	17 Mar 20	146
9V-SVC	ASP	19 Mar 20	144
9V-SVE	ASP	21 Mar 20	142

In its full-year analyst briefing, Singapore Airlines effectively wrote off the Boeing 777-200 and -200ERs, with no chance for their return to the active fleet.

Boeing 777-300

9V-SYL has stopped flying, leaving only a single Boeing 777-300 (9V-SYJ) operating occasional cargo-only flights.

Aircraft	Location	Last flew	Days ago
9V-SYF	SIN	10 Apr 20	122
9V-SYH	SIN	5 May 20	97
9V-SYJ	SIN	8 Aug 20	2
9V-SYL	SIN	17 Jun 20	54

Boeing 777-300ER

Singapore Airlines has stopped flying 13 of the 18 Boeing 777-300ERs that were operating in May 2020, meaning only 5 are now active in the last two weeks with 22 stored at Changi, having not flown for over a month in most cases.

These aircraft are now dedicated to cargo-only operation in the current schedule through 24th October 2020, having ceased passenger services in June 2020.

Aircraft	Location	Last flew	Days ago
9V-SWA	SIN	29 Mar 20	134
9V-SWB	SIN	24 Mar 20	139
9V-SWD	SIN	19 Mar 20	144
9V-SWE	SIN	3 Aug 20	7
9V-SWF	SIN	21 Jun 20	50
9V-SWG	SIN	30 May 20	72
9V-SWH	SIN	9 Jul 20	32
9V-SWI	SIN	6 May 20	96
9V-SWJ	SIN	4 May 20	98
9V-SWK	SIN	4 May 20	98
9V-SWL	SIN	6 May 20	96
9V-SWM	SIN	2 May 20	100
9V-SWN	SIN	30 Jul 20	11
9V-SWO	SIN	2 Apr 20	130
9V-SWP	SIN	29 Mar 20	134
9V-SWQ	SIN	2 Aug 20	8
9V-SWR	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SWS	SIN	5 Apr 20	127
9V-SWT	SIN	26 Jun 20	45
9V-SWU	SIN	30 Apr 20	102
9V-SWV	SIN	13 Jun 20	58
9V-SWW	SIN	13 Jun 20	58
9V-SWY	SIN	6 Aug 20	4
9V-SWZ	SIN	27 Jun 20	44
9V-SNA	SIN	25 Jul 20	16
9V-SNB	SIN	16 Mar 20	147
9V-SNC	SIN	14 Jun 20	57

Looking at the last 7 days in isolation, only 3 Boeing 777-300ERs are more recently active, suggesting additional aircraft are potentially being stored at the time of writing.

Boeing 787-10

Only one of SIA’s 15 Boeing 787-10s is currently inactive, with the remainder flying a mixture of passenger and cargo-only flights.

On average, each active aircraft in this fleet is currently flying 11 times per week.

Aircraft	Location	Last flew	Days ago
9V-SCA	SIN	23 Jul 20	18
9V-SCB	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SCC	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SCD	SIN	10 Aug 20	0
9V-SCE	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SCF	SIN	10 Aug 20	0
9V-SCG	SIN	10 Aug 20	0
9V-SCH	SIN	8 Aug 20	2
9V-SCI	SIN	10 Aug 20	0
9V-SCJ	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SCK	SIN	10 Aug 20	0
9V-SCL	SIN	10 Aug 20	0
9V-SCM	SIN	9 Aug 20	1
9V-SCN	SIN	10 Aug 20	0
9V-SCO	SIN	3 Aug 20	7

Alice Springs storage

29 Singapore Airlines Group aircraft are now in long-term storage at Alice Springs airport in Australia, where the hot, dry climate is far more conducive to preservation.

These include SilkAir’s Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets, which have been grounded since last year, and some Scoot aircraft.

SIA and Scoot aircraft stored in Alice Springs
Airline	Aircraft	Total
	Airbus A380	7
	Boeing 777-200	7*
	Boeing 777-200ER	3
	Boeing 737 MAX 8	6
	Airbus A320	3
	Boeing 787-8	3

* One remains registered to NokScoot as HS-XBA as of 31st July 2020

Cargo flights have plateaued

Last month we updated our analysis of the airline’s current cargo-only operations, now a significant part of the business for SIA.

We noted that these flights seem to have reached a steady level, following two months of increases, with around 140 cargo-only departures from Changi each week using the passenger fleet and 34 dedicated freighter departures.

“On the cargo front, the significant reduction in belly hold capacity globally has resulted in strong demand for freighter services. We have accordingly focused our efforts on maximising freighter utilisation, and continuing to supplement freighter capacity with the deployment of passenger aircraft operating cargo-only flights to meet the demand from global supply chains.”

Singapore Airlines trading update, 8th May 2020

Check out our latest analysis to see where these aircraft are flying, including cargo-only flights with passenger aircraft to Johannesburg, Brisbane, Colombo and Beijing.

Future aircraft deliveries

The SIA Group still has large order books with Airbus and Boeing for its fleet modernisation and replacement strategy over the next few years. These comprise:

Additionally, Scoot is taking 10 Airbus A321neo aircraft through leasing companies over the coming years.

Singapore Airlines is currently in negotiations with Airbus and Boeing to reduce its new aircraft intake, potentially spreading out this large commitment for 140 additional new aircraft across a longer time period.

“We continue to engage aircraft manufacturers to negotiate adjustments to the delivery stream of existing aircraft orders and the schedule of progress payments to reduce near-term cash outflows. We have reached an agreement with Airbus on some of these matters and discussions with Boeing are ongoing. This will help to moderate fleet growth in the near term.”

Singapore Airlines Q1 financial update

At least 12 Airbus A350s and 3 Boeing 787-10s alone were originally scheduled to join the fleet during this financial year. We wouldn’t be surprised to see those totals more than halved, given what other airlines seem to be negotiating with the manufacturers.

There’s still no official word from the airline on how its capital expenditure on new aircraft purchases has been reduced yet, but we’ll be sure to report once they do so, hopefully with some concrete fleet numbers.

Full details

As always you can see full details of each aircraft type in the Singapore Airlines fleet at the following links, including aircraft registrations specific to each configuration.

• Airbus A330
• Airbus A350 (3 versions)
• Airbus A380 (3 versions)
• Boeing 777-200
• Boeing 777-200ER
• Boeing 777-300
• Boeing 777-300ER
• Boeing 787-10

If the seat types and routes interest you more – see our Seats Guide.

Stay tuned for the next fleet (and aircraft storage) update in September 2020.

(Cover Photo: Singapore Airlines)