Singapore Airlines has finalised its flight schedules including days of operation and aircraft type allocation across its network for the upcoming winter travel season, which means we now have a firm idea of where and when the carrier will be flying through to the end of March 2024.
Although flights for this period were already loaded for some time, many frequencies and aircraft types in particular were based on a ‘copy-paste’ of the previous winter season schedules. With COVID-19 recovery still in full swing, that meant these plans weren’t necessarily accurate, until now.
Some India and Bangladesh services are being scaled down slightly, while Davao, Chengdu and Vancouver are being axed from the network, but there are increases in store for the likes of Bangkok, Phuket, Perth, Da Nang, Melbourne and Frankfurt.
As we recently reported, there are also significant increases towards pre-COVID schedules to and from Japan in store during the upcoming season, including the return of A380s to the Tokyo route.
The overall passenger network will stand at 71 destinations for the mainline carrier this winter, a reduction of five compared to last winter, with around 81% of pre-COVID capacity by flight volumes restored.
Headline numbers
In total Singapore Airlines will fly over 2,100 passenger flights per week by March 2024, its highest total since schedules were slashed in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
That’s around 81% of the pre-pandemic monthly total operated on the combined SilkAir / SIA network in January 2020. SilkAir has now been fully merged into SIA.
Singapore Airlines schedule
Here’s how the flight frequencies and aircraft types on the short-haul and Asia network will look during the upcoming season, which starts on 29th October 2023 and runs through to 30th March 2024.
Aircraft types key:
- 359 MH: Airbus A350 Medium Haul
- 359 LH: Airbus A350 Long Haul
- 359 ULR: Airbus A350 ULR
- 388: Airbus A380
- 738: Boeing 737-800
- 77W: Boeing 777-300ER
- 787: Boeing 787-10
- 7M8: Boeing 737-8 MAX
| Singapore Airlines Routes Short-haul & Asia (Nov 2023 – Mar 2024) |
|||
| City | Month(s) | Acft | |
| Nov ’23 Jan ’24 |
Feb ’24 Mar ’24 |
||
| Ahmedabad | 7/wk (was 5/wk) |
5/wk | 359 MH |
| Bangkok | 42/wk* (was 35/wk) |
42/wk |
359 MH 787-10 |
| Beijing | 14/wk | 14/wk | 359 MH 77W |
| Bengaluru | 14/wk (was 16/wk) |
14/wk | 359 MH 7M8 |
| Brunei | 7/wk (was 5/wk) |
7/wk | 7M8 |
| Busan | 4/wk | 4/wk | 7M8 |
| Chennai | 14/wk (was 17/wk) |
14/wk | 359 MH 7M8 787 |
| Cebu |
7/wk | 7/wk | 7M8 |
| Chengdu | Route ending (was 1/wk) |
359 LH | |
| Chongqing | Suspended (was 1/wk till 20 Mar 2023) |
787 | |
| Cochin | 14/wk | 10/wk |
7M8 |
| Colombo | 7/wk (was 5/wk) |
7/wk | 787 |
| Da Nang | 11/wk (was 7/wk) |
11/wk | 7M8 |
| Davao | Route ending (was 7/wk) |
7M8 | |
| Denpasar (Bali) |
42/wk | 42/wk | 7M8 787 |
| Dhaka | 7/wk | 7/wk | 787 |
| Delhi | 14/wk | 14/wk | 388 787 |
| Fukuoka | 5/wk (was 3/wk) |
7/wk (fm 1 Mar) | 787 |
| Guangzhou | 7/wk |
7/wk | 359 MH |
| Hanoi | 14/wk |
14/wk | 359 MH 7M8 |
| Ho Chi Minh | 21/wk (was 19/wk) |
21/wk | 359 MH 7M8 |
| Hong Kong | 35/wk (was 28/wk) |
35/wk |
359 LH 359 MH 388 |
| Hyderabad | 12/wk (was 7/wk) |
12/wk | 359 MH 7M8 |
| Jakarta | 42/wk | 42/wk | 359 LH 77W |
| Kathmandu | 7/wk | 7/wk | 738 787 |
| Kolkata | 7/wk | 7/wk | 359 MH 7M8 |
| Kuala Lumpur | 47/wk | 47/wk | 359 LH 738 7M8 |
| Malé | 14/wk | 14/wk | 359 MH 7M8 |
| Manila | 28/wk | 28/wk | 359 MH 787 |
| Medan | 14/wk | 14/wk | 7M8 |
| Mumbai | 16/wk | 16/wk | 359 MH 359 LH 388 |
| Nagoya | 5/wk (was 3/wk) |
7/wk (fm 1 Mar) | 787 |
| Osaka | 21/wk (was 14/wk) |
21/wk | 787 |
| Penang | 35/wk |
35/wk |
738 |
| Phnom Penh | 21/wk | 21/wk | 7M8 |
| Phuket | 42/wk* (was 28/wk) |
42/wk |
738 7M8 |
| Seoul | 28/wk |
28/wk |
359 MH 787 |
| Shanghai | 28/wk | 28/wk | 359 MH 388 77W |
| Shenzhen | Suspended (was 3/wk till 24 Mar 2023) |
359 MH | |
| Siem Reap | 10/wk |
10/wk |
7M8 |
| Surabaya | 19/wk | 19/wk | 359 MH 7M8 |
| Taipei | 14/wk | 14/wk 17/wk^ |
359 MH 787 |
| Tokyo Haneda | 21/wk |
21/wk |
359 MH 77W |
| Tokyo Narita | 14/wk |
14/wk | 388 77W |
| Xiamen | Suspended (was 2/wk till 25 Mar 2023) |
359 MH | |
| Yangon | 7/wk | 7/wk | 7M8 |
| Total | 738/wk (was 688/wk) |
736/wk | |
* During 3rd – 30th December 2023 period:
Bangkok drops to 35/wk
Phuket drops to 28/wk
^ 3rd Feb – 17 Mar 2024 only
The latest updated schedules including days of operation and flight timings are available at the Singapore Airlines website.
Singapore Airlines will be dropping Davao flights from 28th October, replacing its Singapore – Davao – Cebu – Singapore triangle routing with a simple Singapore – Cebu – Singapore service. In turn, low-cost subsidiary Scoot will increase its Davao flights from three per week to daily.
Chengdu flights, currently once weekly, also end on 24th October, while Chongqing, Shenzhen and Xiamen routes remain suspended. SIA told us back in March this year it was seeking to resume operation to these three cities “as soon as possible”.
Until then, the airline’s mainland China network will only include Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou this winter, with 49 weekly services between them, compared to over 100 to and from China prior to the pandemic.
Hong Kong is another route running significantly below pre-COVID frequencies, with a fifth daily service added for the upcoming winter season, still well short of the seven daily flights operated in ‘normal times’, which included the SQ2/1 flight that continued to and from San Francisco.
On the short-haul network there’s a hike in Bangkok flights from five times daily back to the pre-COVID level of six daily, with the late evening SQ720/719 flights (previously SQ978/981) re-added to the schedule for the winter season.
Phuket also gets record capacity from the winter season onwards, with six daily flights, as we recently reported. This will include Boeing 737-8 MAX flights again, providing 106% of pre-pandemic seat capacity to and from the popular island.
While Beijing retains its current twice-daily frequency, one of the two daily flights to and from the city (SQ802/807) will upgauge to the Boeing 777-300ER, meaning a First Class option on the route for the first time in over three years.
Strangely, the Singapore – Kuala Lumpur route has been cut back to just 69% of pre-COVID frequencies with 47 weekly services now operating, a level retained through to late March 2024. Until recently, the airline had been operating 68 weekly flights on the route – matching pre-COVID levels.
Boeing 737-800s, with ex-SilkAir recliner seats in Business Class, will stretch their wings to five-hour Kathmandu flights from late October – bad news for those hoping to catch up on some sleep or, with no Wi-Fi available, some productive work!
Other 737-800 routes are thankfully restricted to shorter flights, with Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Phuket on the list.
Manila flights shift exclusively to the Airbus A350 Medium Haul this winter, from mostly Boeing 787-10 operation currently.
The A350 MH fleet has faster Wi-Fi than the 787-10 and the same 2018 Regional Business Class seats, but unfortunately doesn’t feature Live TV.
One of the most exciting developments for the upcoming season is of course the return of Airbus A380s on SIA’s Tokyo Narita route, including the latest Suites cabin.
Here’s how the long-haul network looks during the winter 2023 / 24 season.
| Singapore Airlines Routes Long-haul (Nov 2023 – Mar 2024) |
|||
| City | Month(s) | Acft | |
| Nov ’23 |
Dec ’23 Mar ’24 |
||
| Adelaide | 7/wk | 7/wk* |
359 MH 787 |
| Amsterdam | 7/wk | 7/wk | 359 LH |
| Auckland | 14/wk (was 7/wk) |
14/wk | 359 LH 388 |
| Barcelona (non-stop) |
Suspended (was 2/wk during Jul & Aug 2023) |
359 LH | |
| Barcelona (via MXP) |
5/wk | 5/wk | 359 LH |
| Brisbane | 21/wk | 21/wk* |
359 MH |
| Cairns | 5/wk | 5/wk | 7M8 |
| Cape Town (via JNB) |
7/wk | 7/wk | 359 LH |
| Christchurch | 7/wk | 7/wk* |
359 LH |
| Copenhagen | 5/wk | 5/wk | 359 LH |
| Darwin | 5/wk | 5/wk | 7M8 |
| Dubai | 7/wk | 7/wk | 359 MH |
| Frankfurt | 14/wk | 17/wk (fm 31 Jan) |
359 LH 77W |
| Houston (via MAN) |
3/wk | 3/wk | 359 LH |
| Istanbul | 4/wk | 4/wk | 359 LH |
| Johannesburg | 7/wk | 10/wk (fm 3 Jan) |
359 LH |
| London | 28/wk | 28/wk | 388 77W |
| Los Angeles (non-stop) |
10/wk | 10/wk | 359 LH |
| Los Angeles (via NRT) |
7/wk | 7/wk | 77W |
| Manchester | 5/wk | 5/wk | 359 LH |
| Melbourne | 28/wk | 35/wk | 359 LH 388 77W |
| Milan | 7/wk | 7/wk | 359 LH |
| Munich | 7/wk | 7/wk | 359 LH |
| New York JFK (non-stop) |
7/wk | 7/wk | 359 ULR |
| New York JFK (via FRA) |
7/wk | 7/wk | 77W |
| Newark | 7/wk | 7/wk | 359 ULR |
| Paris | 14/wk | 14/wk | 359 LH 77W |
| Perth | 21/wk | 25/wk | 359 MH 787 |
| Rome | 3/wk (was 4/wk) |
3/wk | 359 LH |
| San Francisco | 14/wk | 14/wk | 359 LH 359 ULR |
| Seattle | 3/wk | 3/wk | 359 LH |
| Sydney | 28/wk | 28/wk* |
359 LH 388 77W |
| Vancouver | Route ending (3/wk till 30 Sep) |
359 LH | |
| Zurich | 7/wk | 7/wk | 77W |
| Total | 321/wk (was 315/wk) |
338/wk |
|
* Australia / NZ Peak Season increases:
Adelaide to 11/wk (2 Dec – 21 Jan)
Brisbane to 25/wk (1 Dec – 13 Jan)
Christchurch to 10/wk (19 Nov – 15 Feb)
Sydney to 35/wk (2 Dec – 14 Jan)
The latest updated schedules including days of operation and flight timings are available at the Singapore Airlines website.
The A380 will be back on Auckland services this winter, from 22nd November 2023, with the airline loading the usual hike to two daily flights for the season, the other one operated by the Airbus A350 Long Haul. This will also bring the latest Suites product to the route.
Frankfurt, Melbourne and Perth all see frequency hikes during the upcoming season.
Rome sees its usual winter season reduction from four to three times weekly, as it did before COVID-19, while its the end of the road for SIA’s Vancouver route from 30th September 2023. Air Canada will launch non-stop flights in April 2024, hopefully filling the void left by SIA.
Sydney, Melbourne and London will retain the highest frequencies on the long-haul network, with each city served four times per day, including some A380 services to all three cities (but only until 21st November in the case of Melbourne).
For a full rundown of Airbus A380 routes between now and March 2024, check out our dedicated article here, which includes detailed flight schedules.
Australia / NZ peak season hikes
Between mid-November 2023 and mid-February 2024, Singapore Airlines is loading up to 18 additional weekly services to and from four cities in Australia and New Zealand, to cater for increased demand during the peak travel season for this region.
- Adelaide
Increase from 7/wk to 11/wk from 2nd December 2023 to 21st January 2024
A350 MH operating additional services on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday - Brisbane
Increase from 21/wk to 25/wk from 1st December 2023 to 13th January 2024
A350 MH operating additional services on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday - Christchurch
Increase from 7/wk to 10/wk from 19th November 2023 to 15th February 2024
A350 LH operating additional services on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday - Sydney
Increase from 28/wk to 35/wk from 2nd December 2023 to 14th January 2024
A350 LH operating additional services on a daily basis
“Fifth freedom” routes
Singapore Airlines will continue to operate four “fifth freedom” routes during the winter season, on which it has traffic rights to sell tickets and provide award redemptions to passengers travelling solely between these cities.
- Frankfurt to New York JFK (Boeing 777-300ER)
- Manchester to Houston (Airbus A350 Long Haul)
- Milan to Barcelona (Airbus A350 Long Haul)
- Tokyo to Los Angeles (Boeing 777-300ER)
Note that it is not possible to buy or redeem tickets to travel solely on the following Singapore Airlines routes:
- Johannesburg to Cape Town
- Cape Town to Johannesburg
On these flights, you must be travelling to or from Singapore.
Which routes are left?
With 71 destinations across the Singapore Airlines and former SilkAir network now reinstated, it’s interesting to consider which cities or airports are still to be added to the list (or not, as the case may be).
Here’s the latest rundown.
Singapore Airlines / SilkAir Routes
Pending Reinstatement
| City / Airport | |
| Pending reinstatement (SIA route)
|
|
| Pending reinstatement (former SilkAir route)
|
|
| Transferred to Scoot (and still pending reinstatement)
|
|
| Discontinued since COVID-19 (no planned reinstatement) |
|
* Restarted, but ending from 24th October 2023
SIA still has not programmed a return of its Singapore – Hong Kong – San Francisco flights since these were suspended in January 2022, when Hong Kong banned transit passengers.
Hong Kong dropped the last of its COVID-era travel restrictions on 1st April this year, and hasn’t had any transit restrictions since April 2022, so we were hoping to see a return for this popular service by now.
Another eagerly anticipated SIA route is a seasonal service to and from Sapporo during the peak ski season each winter, but sadly there’s no sign of any return for this one either.
Instead, Scoot now operates four times weekly year-round to Sapporo via Taipei using Boeing 787-8s.
Summary
Singapore Airlines schedules get a couple of ‘big updates’ per year, and this is one of them, with flight frequencies and aircraft types confirmed for the northern winter season from late October 2023 to late March 2024.
For most routes it’s ‘status quo’, but there’s a reduction for some cities, while there are nice increases for places like Frankfurt, Melbourne, Perth and most Japan routes.
Chengdu, Davao and Vancouver are unfortunately being removed from the network, and there’s still no sign of a reinstatement for three cities in China that were suspended in March this year.
If you are booking flights beyond 30th March 2024, do be aware that the next summer schedule is still somewhat provisional, especially as far as aircraft types are concerned.
(Cover Photo: (Photo: Plane’s Portrait Aviation Media / Malcolm Lu)
very sad to know SQ1/2 still isn’t returning this winter, does the airline plan to terminate the service permanently?
It is surprising that this one hasn’t made it back, but all airlines seem to still be cautious about the HKG market, so perhaps SIA just doesn’t think demand justifies it yet.
Hopefully we’ll see the flagship SQ1/2 back eventually. Until then, the flight number still exists as a cargo-only A350 service (SIN-HKG-SIN).
If it does return it could be SQ8/7 and maybe with the A350 instead, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
It has been 2 years, but at this point, I wouldn’t even hold my breath. I took the nonstop service last year and while it was time saving, the comfort on the A350 is nowhere as good as the 77W. It is especially cramped on the aisles, so my experience is not good…not worth 17 hours in Y, maybe Premium Economy we’ll see.
Remember, CX is flying to SFO, though not daily on their 3 flights yet. At the same time, United is flying 2x 77W daily to SFO. I wonder if that has anything to do with it.
I’m pretty sure at this point SQ’s HKG-SFO will probably never return. The main problem now is that if you want to fly Y class, it is only on SQ32/31. SQ34/33 only are operated by the ULR. With more A359’s coming for SQ, they need to consider adding Y class service to SQ34/33 too.
SQ has made life unbearably difficult in terms of pricing & convenience especially connecting to some parts of India, which is why we switched to Emirates (and potentially Lufthansa or JAL in the future). Timings and price choices are very poor. At the time SQ’s HKG option was there, it was easy to pick. I don’t think I want to fly them for a while unless it’s Premium Economy or don’t have any other choice price-wise.
My expectation is once SQ gets their 777-9, there is a potential they may use that to reinstate their HKG-SFO route (and of course 779 on fifth freedom routes). Time will tell, that may very well be 2026.
What happened to Oslo route?
Singapore Airlines has never flown to Oslo to my knowledge.
When I checked Business Class fares for Singapore Airlines flights between Singapore and Japan, I saw that they were quite pricey, but this is expected as the airline’s Japan network is still recovering and is still yet to be restored to pre-COVID levels, as seen from the change in aircraft types. Hopefully from next summer, they’ll not be as expensive, and we still don’t know when or even if the airline will reinstate its fifth freedom route between Hong Kong and San Francisco. Let’s see how travel demand plays out.
Silk Air used to operate Kota Kinabalu pre covid as well. Hopefully SIA reinstates that route.
That route was transferred from SilkAir to Scoot in December 2019. Scoot already restarted 👍
Is Melbourne back to pre covid capacity with 35 flights? If so amazing they have chosen it before Sydney which only gets 5th flight back briefly in Dec-Jan
MEL actually exceeds pre-COVID frequencies this winter (35/wk vs. 33/wk based on Jan 2020), but seat capacity is a bit less:
Jan 2020 – 9,819 seats per week
Jan 2024 – 8,932 seats per week (91% of pre-COVID)
That’s mainly because of the A380 being used in Jan 2020, but pulled from the route early part of NW23/24 season.
Sydney pre-COVID (Jan 2020) was 11,928 seats per week, Jan 2024 planned is 11,984 seats per week (100%), but as you say dropping to 10,213 (86% of pre-COVID) once the seasonal boost ends.
The China route suspensions seem to be a mystery with only vague refrences to “government approvals” presumably its due to China side restrictions that seem irrelevant now post COVID restrictions? Do you reckon Chengdu will see a comeback? Overall achieving only about 80% of pre-COVID capacity seems conservative in light of high travel demand and ticket prices currently.
I know Moscow is suspended due to obvious reasons, but how was demand on that flight since Russia allowed flying in 2021? Was it full in the front or connecting passengers from the region? I took it pre-COVID and the flight had many Russians going to Bali in economy and full in business class.
Also, once the Ukraine conflict settles, does SQ intend to resume Moscow?
Sorry to say that I’m not familiar with the commercial performance of this route when it was operating, nor whether the airline intends to restart it in future. Time will tell with this one I think.
Im very curious about Singapore-Bandung flights as I am a huge fan of the city. Been there many times and it is very underrated indeed.
Do you think Singapore-Bandung flight will be operated by SQ or TR should the route be reinstated? (Rly hope SQ tho but idk).
Seems like IF this route were to be reinstated again some time in the future, it will be very much depend on the situation of the new airport (KJT) since hearsay they are moving all commercial flights from BDO to KJT and the latter seems to be pretty dead though they are starting to ramp up flights from this month onwards.
What do you guys think?
what happened to Scoot flights from and to Cochin ( Kochi COK)?