With more Boeing 737-800s joining the fleet, Singapore Airlines was actively flying 86 passenger aircraft in April 2021, a record since the COVID-19 pandemic slashed the operating fleet into the 50s last year.
The 737s are certainly making their mark fast, flying to and from nine regional destinations next month (up from four in March), plus there’s a more advanced version being prepared for service.
The troubled Boeing 737 MAX 8, now cleared to fly in many countries but still awaiting approval here in Singapore, will eventually replace the older 737-800s and the first one to receive the SIA colour scheme and new cabin products has now been rolled out of the hangar.
Meanwhile the wide-body fleet renewal process continued this month, with another Airbus A330 leaving the airline and three brand new Airbus A350 Regionals arriving almost ‘in formation’, to make SIA the world’s largest operator of the type.
Fleet totals
Here are the Singapore Airlines passenger fleet totals at 30th April 2021.
CAAS Database: | 141 | ||
Recently deregistered: For disposal: |
-1 -23 |
||
In Service: | 117 | ||
In maintenance / stored: |
-31 |
||
Active: | 86 |
The official registered aircraft data in combination with recent retirement announcements and analysis of actual flight movements over the last few weeks allows us to determine the actual ‘in service’ fleet (available to the airline) of 117 planes at 30th April 2021, 86 of which were recently active.
Click here to see the official CAAS list of registered aircraft in Singapore at 31st March 2021.
SIA Passenger Fleet at 30th April 2021
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![]() |
3 |
0 | 0 |
A350-900![]() |
26 | 26 | 26 |
A350-900 Regional![]() |
22 |
22 | 19 |
A350-900 ULR![]() |
7 | 7 | 7 |
A380-800 v1![]() |
6 | 0 | 0 |
A380-800 v2![]() |
4 | 3 | 0 |
A380-800 v3![]() |
9 | 9 | 0 |
737-800![]() |
8 | 8 | 8 |
777-200![]() |
8 | 0 | 0 |
777-200ER![]() |
3 | 0 | 0 |
777-300![]() |
2 | 0 | 0 |
777-300ER![]() |
27 | 27 | 11 |
787-10![]() |
15 | 15 | 15 |
Total | 140 | 117 | 86 |
Following confirmation that all the airline’s remaining Airbus A330s, Boeing 777-200s, Boeing 777-200ERs and Boeing 777-300s will not be returning to the fleet after COVID-19, in addition to seven older Airbus A380s, we have removed these from the ‘In Service’ column.
This reflects a future fleet of 117 aircraft, plus future near-term deliveries of Airbus A350s and Boeing 787-10s.
There will also be an unknown number of Boeing 737 MAX 8s joining the fleet in 2021, as the SilkAir merger enters its final stage, while one more Boeing 737-800 will be temporarily added.
Fleet activity
Four aircraft types are currently in service with the airline, as shown in the table below outlining the number in use at each of our monthly fleet update ‘snapshots’, from April 2020 to date.
SIA fleet activity timeline (2020) | |||||||
A350 |
B773 |
B77W |
B787 |
Total |
|||
LH |
R |
ULR |
|||||
Apr | 16 | 10 | — | 4 | 18 | 15 | 63 |
May | 14 | 9 | — | 3 | 18 | 15 | 59 |
Jun | 21 | 12 | — | 2 | 11 | 15 | 61 |
Aug | 23 | 14 | — | 1 | 4 | 14 | 56 |
Sep | 24 | 13 | — | 1 | 7 | 12 | 57 |
Oct | 24 | 13 | — | 1 | 4 | 12 | 54 |
Nov | 25 | 17 | — | — | 10 | 14 | 66 |
Dec | 26 | 18 | 3 | — | 9 | 14 | 70 |