Singapore Airlines Fleet: May 2021

This month the most significant news about the Singapore Airlines fleet has been the revelation that four older Boeing 777-300ERs have been retired from service, in continued response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on SIA’s fortunes.

Meanwhile it has been confirmed that a large boost to the fleet over the current financial year will arise from not only the six Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft moving across from SilkAir, but a further eight of the type currently stored in the USA under Boeing’s care.

This will boost the MAX fleet to 14 by March 2022, though it’s not yet clear when the type will be cleared to operate again in Singapore, nor whether all 14 would be brought into passenger service immediately as they are delivered.

The troubled Boeing 737 MAX 8, now cleared to fly in many countries but still awaiting approval here in Singapore, will also eventually replace the older 737-800s, and the first two to receive the SIA colour scheme and new cabin products have now been rolled out of the hangar.

Meanwhile the wide-body fleet renewal process is set to continue, with more Airbus A350s and Boeing 787-10s confirmed for delivery this year.

Fleet totals

Here are the Singapore Airlines passenger fleet totals at 31st May 2021.

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 114 planes at 31st May 2021, 89 of which were recently active.

  Click here to see the official CAAS list of registered aircraft in Singapore at 30th April 2021.

ADVERTISEMENT

 

ADVERTISEMENT

 

SIA Passenger Fleet at 31st May 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	25
A350-900 Regional	22	22	21
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	9	9	9
737-8 MAX	5	0	0
777-200	8	0	0
777-200ER	3	0	0
777-300	2	0	0
777-300ER	27	23	12
787-10	15	15	15
Total	146	114	89

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.

Additionally, four newly announced Boeing 777-300ER retirements and all currently registered Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft, which are awaiting re-certification, are excluded from the ‘In Service’ column.

This reflects a future fleet of 114 aircraft, plus future near-term deliveries of Airbus A350s, Boeing 737-8 MAXs and Boeing 787-10s.

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.

Almost all Airbus A350s and Boeing 787-10s remain in consistent use, alongside the nine recent Boeing 737-800 deliveries, while the deployment of Boeing 777-300ERs has risen to 52% of that fleet, now that we know only 23 of the aircraft will return to service.

Overall the airline was actively using a total of 89 aircraft in May 2021, its highest total since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Here’s a graphical look at the active vs. stored fleet.