Singapore Airlines announces January 2021 schedule

Singapore Airlines and SilkAir have extended their published passenger flight schedules through to 31st January 2021, extending their planned schedules for December 2020 into the first month of next year. The carriers had already ramped up frequencies on a number of routes in November and December, so maintaining the new ‘status quo’ isn’t too surprising with border restrictions still in place for now.

Melbourne will remain the airline’s busiest route, with 13 weekly connections, ahead of London and Sydney each receiving 12 flights per week.

Overall, the new schedules will lift capacity to around 16% of usual levels in January 2021.

  Headline figures

In total SIA and SilkAir will fly 1,543 passenger flights during January 2021, effectively the same total planned for December 2020 but 70% higher than the 902 flights operated in October 2020.

“By the end of January 2021, the Group’s passenger capacity will reach approximately 16% of its pre-Covid-19 levels”

Singapore Airlines, 31 October 2020

Singapore Airlines Schedule

Here’s a map of the 23 Asia-Pacific destinations being served by Singapore Airlines by January 2021.

In addition, a two US destinations, nine European cities, Istanbul in Turkey and Johannesburg in South Africa will be served, including the most recently announced addition – New York JFK.

Overall the airline will operate 1,392 passenger flights in January 2021, around 17% of the 8,200 monthly services it would have usually planned, based January 2020 data.

Singapore Airlines will be running the following passenger route network between November 2020 and January 2021.

All routes not listed below are cancelled during this period, or will have cargo-only operation.

Singapore Airlines Routes Short-haul & Asia (Nov 2020 – Jan 2021)
City	Month			Acft
	Nov	Dec	Jan
Bangkok	5/wk	7/wk	7/wk	787
Brunei	1/wk	1/wk	1/wk	738
Dhaka	2/wk	4/wk	4/wk	359R
Fukuoka	1/wk	1/wk	1/wk	787
Hanoi	3/wk	3/wk	3/wk	359R
Ho Chi Minh	3/wk	3/wk	3/wk	787
Hong Kong	10/wk	10/wk	10/wk	359
Jakarta	10/wk	10/wk	10/wk	359
Kuala Lumpur	3/wk	3/wk	3/wk	359
Manila	5/wk	5/wk	5/wk	359R
Osaka	5/wk	5/wk	5/wk	359R
Seoul	6/wk	6/wk	6/wk	359R 787
Shanghai	1/wk	1/wk	1/wk	787
Surabaya	2/wk	2/wk	2/wk	773 77W
Taipei	3/wk	3/wk	3/wk	787
Tokyo	5/wk	6/wk	6/wk	787
Total	65/wk	70/wk	70/wk

The latest updated schedules including days of operation is available at this dedicated page on the Singapore Airlines website.

There are no new short-haul routes during this period, with some minor frequency increases taking effect between November and December 2020.

Regional cities Jakarta and Hong Kong have the highest frequencies, however there is still no planned increase to and from the latter city despite an upcoming Air Travel Bubble arrangement.

Bangkok gets daily flights, while Seoul and Tokyo are also set to receive near-daily connections with six services each per week.

Singapore Airlines Routes Australia & Long-haul (Nov 2020 – Jan 2021)
City	Month			Acft
	Nov	Dec	Jan
Adelaide	2/wk	2/wk	2/wk	359R
Amsterdam	5/wk	7/wk	7/wk	359
Auckland	5/wk	6/wk	6/wk	359
Barcelona	1/wk	1/wk	1/wk	359
Brisbane	4/wk	6/wk	6/wk	359 359R
Christchurch	3/wk	3/wk	3/wk	359
Copenhagen	2/wk	2/wk	2/wk	359
Frankfurt	5/wk	5/wk	5/wk	359
Istanbul	1/wk	1/wk	1/wk	359
Johannesburg	3/wk	3/wk	3/wk	359
London	12/wk	12/wk	12/wk	359
Los Angeles	3/wk	3/wk	3/wk	359
Melbourne	7/wk	13/wk	13/wk	359R
Milan	1/wk	1/wk	1/wk	359
New York JFK	3/wk (fm 9th)	3/wk	3/wk	359
Paris	3/wk	3/wk	3/wk	359
Perth	3/wk	3/wk	3/wk	787
Sydney	9/wk	12/wk	12/wk	359 787
Zurich	4/wk	4/wk	4/wk	359
Total	76/wk	90/wk	90/wk

The latest updated schedules including days of operation is available at this dedicated page on the Singapore Airlines website.

With the exception of New York, no new long-haul routes outside Asia will be restarting over the next three months.

The airline plans to serve Melbourne, Sydney and London 12 times per week or more (almost twice daily).

Overall weekly passenger flight frequencies across all Singapore Airlines services are as follows:

• Nov 2020: 141 per week
• Dec 2020: 160 per week
• Jan 2021: 160 per week

SilkAir Schedule

SilkAir is maintaining its network of nine cities in January 2021, with the most recent addition being Da Nang from late November, which we recently highlighted.

Overall the airline will operate 151 monthly passenger flights in January 2021, around 4.3% of its 3,500 monthly services planned for January 2020.

SilkAir will be running the following passenger route network between November 2020 and January 2021.

All other SilkAir routes not listed below are cancelled during this period.

SilkAir Routes (Nov 2020 – Jan 2021)
City	Month			Acft
	Nov	Dec	Jan
Cebu	2/wk	2/wk	2/wk	738
Chongqing	1/wk	1/wk	1/wk	738
Da Nang	—	1/wk	1/wk	738
Kathmandu	1/wk	1/wk	1/wk	738
Kuala Lumpur	2/wk	4/wk	4/wk	738
Malé	—	2/wk	2/wk	738
Medan	2/wk	2/wk	2/wk	738
Penang	2/wk	2/wk	2/wk	738
Phnom Penh	3/wk	3/wk	3/wk	738
Total	13/wk	18/wk	18/wk

The latest updated schedules including days of operation is available at this dedicated page on the Singapore Airlines website.

SilkAir continues to operate and plan its passenger flights exclusively using its Boeing 737-800 aircraft, with the carrier’s Airbus A319s and A320s in storage.

This is the highest level of SilkAir passenger flight activity we’ve seen since the skeleton schedules of April and May 2020, though when you compare it to the Singapore Airlines graph above it’s clear to see that recovery progress is much slower for the regional division.

At this stage between December 2020 and January 2021, there are no extra SilkAir flights or routes planned, though the carrier sometimes makes short-term additions to its schedules.

Full schedules

Full flight schedules for SIA and SilkAir during the November 2020 to January 2021 period are now available at the Singapore Airlines website.

These are regularly updated, so do check for the latest changes.

  SIA and SilkAir Nov – Jan Flight Schedules

What if your flight has been cancelled?

You may be protected by SIA’s latest travel waiver policy, in force for bookings through 31st January 2021, 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.

February 2021 onwards

As with previous months, Singapore Airlines continues to load practically its full schedule from 1st February 2021. It will then later announce which services will actually go ahead.

Do remember that these forward plans are subject to significant further cuts based on the COVID-19 situation closer to the time, so we expect a revised service operation list to be announced closer to the time.

Summary

It’s almost exactly ‘status quo’ for Singapore Airlines and SilkAir in terms of passenger flights for the first month of 2021, with both carriers maintaining their December 2020 plans into next year.

Without any major movement on border restrictions, and especially given the large frequency ramp-up in November and December, it’s not too surprising to see the airlines ‘pause’ at this level for now.

January 2021 is still a fair way off. The upcoming Air Travel Bubble with Hong Kong, and future similar potential arrangements, may allow some increases to be programmed in the meantime.

Stay tuned for any news on schedule changes as they potentially come through for the rest of 2020.

(Cover Photo: AirImages / Shutterstock)