Singapore Airlines is reinstating two more of its USA “fifth freedom” routes in November 2021, with the carrier confirming that it will deploy its four-class Boeing 777-300ERs not only between Frankfurt and New York, but also from Hong Kong to San Francisco.
In common with all “fifth freedom” services, these are continuations of the airline’s flights from Singapore, under a common flight number.
SIA last flew between Hong Kong and San Francisco in February 2020, and between Frankfurt and New York in March 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold.
From 1 November 2021, Singapore Airlines will restore flight service between Frankfurt and New York. In addition, SIA will resume its service between Hong Kong and San Francisco from 2 November 2021.
Flights from Singapore to San Francisco via Hong Kong were the first services Singapore Airlines ever operated to the USA in April 1973, so it’s good to see this historic route back again.
Frankfurt – New York
The biggest news with this announcement is also the least unexpected.
SIA has demonstrated its ability to pounce on pockets of demand far from its home base during the COVID-19 pandemic, and take advantage of vital revenue earning opportunities wherever the opportunity lies.
Examples include intra-Europe flights between Copenhagen and Rome, plus a resurrected Taipei – Los Angeles routing.
How does that affect Frankfurt – New York? Well just last week it was announced that the USA would reopen its borders to fully vaccinated travellers from 33 countries in November, including European nations.
The news was not widely anticipated, with some commentators even predicting the Biden administration could hold out until 2022 before relaxing these border restrictions.
One thing’s for sure though – SIA had its cards lined up just in case, so ‘a button was pressed’ when this news came through. Just a week later we have confirmation that daily Frankfurt – New York flights will be reinstated less than five weeks from now.
Here’s how the schedule looks, with daily service on the SQ25/26 service representing a serious commitment to the route, effectively occupying three aircraft almost consistently.
Singapore – Frankfurt – New York
Schedule
(from 1st November 2021)
 |
SQ26 777-300ER |
Days | |||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
| SIN 23:55 |
FRA 06:20* |
||||||||
| FRA 08:20 |
JFK 12:15 |
||||||||
|
SQ25 777-300ER |
Days | |||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
| JFK 21:15 |
FRA 09:50* |
||||||||
| FRA 11:40 |
SIN 06:50* |
||||||||
* Next day
Unfortunately the former Airbus A380 operation on this service has not been reinstated. SIA’s superjumbos reman mothballed at Changi or in Alice Springs, though 12 should return to the skies with the latest cabin products at a later date.
This will be the first time Singapore Airlines has flown the Boeing 777-300ER to New York’s JFK Airport in over eight years (the type was only briefly used for SQ25/26 flights from December 2012 to March 2013).
These services will operate in addition to daily Singapore – New York JFK – Singapore SQ24/23 flights, using two-class Airbus A350 ULRs.
That makes New York only the second city on the Singapore Airlines network to return to pre-COVID passenger flight frequencies (Amsterdam was the first).
Fun fact: In 2019, the last full year of operation, 222,723 passengers flew between Frankfurt and New York on Singapore Airlines, a 74% load factor.
There are also three times weekly Singapore – Frankfurt – Singapore SQ326/325 flights (which operate as VTL services on the FRA-SIN leg).
Until 31st October 2021, SQ25/26 flights between Singapore and Frankfurt will continue to be operated by three-class Airbus A350s.
The schedule is valid until 31st December 2021 at this stage, the latest end period to which SIA has confirmed its schedules.
Frankfurt / New York redemptions
With Boeing 777-300ERs deployed from the get go, all four cabin classes should be available for redemption on this reinstated fifth freedom route in the days and weeks ahead (though nothing has been loaded at the time of writing).
Here are the applicable one-way award rates using KrisFlyer miles, depending on your routing.
| KrisFlyer Redemption Singapore ⇆ Frankfurt |
||
| Class | Saver | Advantage |
| Economy | 38,000 | 70,000 |
| Premium Economy | 64,500 | n/a |
| Business | 92,000 | 120,000 |
| First | 125,000 | 220,000 |
| KrisFlyer Redemption Singapore ⇆ New York |
||
| Class | Saver | Advantage |
| Economy | 40,000 | 75,000 |
| Premium Economy | 73,000 | n/a |
| Business | 99,000 | 140,000 |
| First | 132,000 | 237,000 |
| KrisFlyer Redemption Frankfurt ⇆ New York |
||
| Class | Saver | Advantage |
| Economy | 22,500 | 40,000 |
| Premium Economy | 47,000 | n/a |
| Business | 72,000 | 85,000 |
| First | 86,000 | 140,000 |
In particular the Economy Class Saver award rate between Frankfurt and New York is quite competitive for a 9-hour flight, if you can manage a long daytime sector ‘down the back’.
A similar rate in Asia-Pacific will only get you from Singapore to Perth!
Hong Kong – San Francisco
The other route reinstatement from November 2021 is SIA’s extension of a Singapore – Hong Kong flight to San Francisco.
Unfortunately the former ‘flagship’ SQ1/2 flight numbers are currently in use for cargo-only services between Singapore and Hong Kong, so SIA has decided to use SQ7/8 to denote this service (last used in November 2018 for Los Angeles flights via Seoul).
Singapore – Hong Kong – San Francisco
Schedule
(from 2nd November 2021)
|
SQ8 777-300ER |
Days | |||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
| SIN 08:25 |
HKG 12:25 |
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