Singapore Airlines brings 12th and final Airbus A380 back into service

It’s fair to say that just a couple of years back, as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the aviation industry was showing no let up, the future of a relatively small global fleet of the largest passenger aircraft in service – the Airbus A380 – looked to be in serious doubt.

Our national carrier Singapore Airlines certainly wasn’t immune to the situation. In April 2020, four of its 19 A380s became the first to wing their way to desert storage in Alice Springs, Australia.

They wouldn’t be the last.

Two more, including 9V-SKP which is the subject of today’s article, followed in June 2020, with another joining the lineup of disused jets by August 2020.

In November that year SIA formally announced that seven of its A380s wouldn’t see the light of day post-pandemic, trimming its future fleet to the newest 12 superjumbos on the books.

Aircraft 12 is back in action

This morning 9V-SKP, the 7th and final A380 in the fleet to receive its cabin refit, took to the skies at 10.21am from Singapore to Hong Kong on the regular SQ892 departure, marking its first passenger flight in a whopping 1,353 days (3.7 years).

The aircraft is the 12th and final Airbus A380 to rejoin SIA’s passenger fleet post-COVID, with seven of the formerly 19-strong superjumbo fleet already put out to pasture, thanks to the impact of the pandemic.

At the time of writing, the aircraft is on its way back from Hong Kong as SQ893.

In the early hours of tomorrow morning, the aircraft is due to jet off to Sydney as SQ231, again showcasing the airline’s latest cabin products with that “new car smell” as it eases into regular service across the carrier’s A380 network.

About 9V-SKP

First delivered in January 2012, this 12.5 year old aircraft is fully owned by Singapore Airlines and originally had the carrier’s “Version 2” cabin layout, with 379 seats including an 86-seat Business Class cabin stretching the entire length of the upper deck.

Here’s what 9V-SKP has been up to since the onset of the pandemic:

• 24th March 2020
  Final passenger flight in its original cabin configuration, SQ319 from London to Singapore, with the aircraft then stored due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 27th June 2020
  Flown from Singapore to Alice Springs for long-term storage.
• 29th June 2022
  After 2 years and 2 days in desert storage, the aircraft flew to Sydney for checks, then back to Singapore four days later, for cabin refit.
• 28th November 2023
  With new cabin products installed, the aircraft completed a 2 hour 17 minute test flight from Singapore back to Singapore
• 7th December 2023: 9V-SKP returned to passenger service, operating SQ892 from Singapore to Hong Kong

New Suites and Business Class

As we exclusively revealed in November 2020, the latest 2017 cabin products are the only ones returning to service on all 12 of the carrier’s A380s that have rejoined the fleet post-pandemic.

Five of these aircraft were delivered with the new cabins installed from the outset ‘factory-fresh’, while the remaining seven (now including 9V-SKP) were refitted with the new products.

That process certainly took some time, with the first refit rolled out in June 2019 and now the seventh and final one in November 2023, nearly four-and-a-half years later!

The new 471-seat ‘Version 3’ A380 configuration comprises:

• 6 Suites
• 78 Business Class
• 44 Premium Economy Class
• 343 Economy Class

You can read our review of the double suite on a flight from Singapore to Hong Kong in 2018 below.

Another great advantage of the new Singapore Airlines A380 cabins is the excellent Business Class product, our personal favourite in the fleet, with 78 of these seats occupying the rest of the upper deck in a 1-2-1 layout.

There’s even the option at the middle seat pairs to retract the divider for couples travelling together, who also benefit from a ‘double bed’ at the three bulkhead positions – Rows 11, 91 and 96.

See our full review for more details.

It does of course mean that COVID-19 called time on the carrier’s original Airbus A380 Business Class and Suites products.

Here are our heartfelt farewells to products we’ll probably all miss, even if they were a little past their prime.

SIA’s 12-strong A380 fleet

Now that the Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 fleet is at full strength, here’s a reminder of when each one had its cabin refit completed and re-entered passenger service post-pandemic.

Singapore Airlines A380 Fleet
(as of 7th December 2023)

Registration	Cabin Refit	Re-entered Service*	Current Status
9V-SKM	18 Nov 2020	11 Nov 2021	In Maintenance
9V-SKN	30 Jun 2020	2 Dec 2021	In Service
9V-SKP	28 Nov 2023	7 Dec 2023	In Service
9V-SKQ	7 Oct 2022	16 Oct 2022	In Service
9V-SKR	23 Dec 2021	19 Jan 2022	In Service
9V-SKS	20 Jun 2019	19 Nov 2021	In Service
9V-SKT	26 Nov 2019	18 Apr 2023	In Service
9V-SKU	From new	4 Nov 2021	In Service
9V-SKV	From new	5 Nov 2021	In Service
9V-SKW	From new	17 Feb 2022	In Service
9V-SKY	From new	26 Dec 2021	In Service
9V-SKZ	From new	3 May 2022	In Service

* Post-COVID-19

Despite 9V-SKP rejoining the fold today, not all 12 of the airline’s Airbus A380s are currently plying the network, like you might expect.

As you can see from the table, 9V-SKM is in maintenance at Changi Airport, having last flown around a month ago, so 11 out of the 12 are actively flying at the time of writing.

Where is the A380 flying?

Singapore Airlines is currently flying its Airbus A380s on seven routes, which will continue through to the end of the northern winter season on 30th March 2024.

Here’s how the A380 flight schedule looks for each of these destinations between now and the end of the northern winter season in late March 2024.

In addition, there’s a 17-day Shanghai stint as an eighth city for the A380 during February 2024, with consistent daily superjumbo service on that route pushed back till April 2024, as we recently reported.

For the northern summer 2024 season, schedules have not been fully finalised yet and some changes may still be in the pipeline, but for now the airline’s A380 schedule looks like this:

It’s great to see Frankfurt back on the list, but unfortunately Tokyo and Auckland don’t appear to have made the cut next summer, and there currently looks to be no sign of a seasonal A380 flight to Melbourne like there was earlier this year.

We’ll do a full analysis on Singapore Airlines’ A380 routes next summer once the schedule is finalised in the coming weeks.

KrisFlyer award pricing

Here are the one-way KrisFlyer award rates on these Singapore Airlines A380 services.

Singapore Airlines A380 routes
One-way KrisFlyer award rates
(x 1,000)

Singapore to/from	Saver				Advantage
	Y	PY	J	F	Y	J	F
Hong Kong	16.5	26.5	34	45	30	50	73
Delhi	20	34.5	43	58.5	37	65	98
Mumbai
Shanghai	21.5	34.5	43	58.5	40	65	98
Tokyo	27	37.5	52	77	45	70	120
Auckland	30.5	51	68.5	93.5	55	90	155
Sydney
Frankfurt	42	71	103.5	141	70	128.5	228
London

As you can see the cheapest way to experience the A380’s latest cabins is between Singapore and Hong Kong, though both Delhi and Mumbai are also competitively priced and often have good award availability, even in Suites and Business Class.

‘The 63D trick’ in Economy Class

With more than half of SIA’s operating Airbus A380 fleet being the refitted aircraft, there’s an interesting trick when flying Economy Class to score yourself lots of legroom at no additional cost.

That’s because seat 62D is missing on these jets, because of the location of the underfloor crew rest area escape hatch, whereas the crew rest is in a different location on the five aircraft delivered from new with the latest seats (9V-SKU to -SKZ).

Here’s how it looks (pre-refit, but the space is still there):

63D is therefore your go-to seat choice in Economy on the A380 Version 3, with no additional charges, since you now have around a 58% chance of success to score one of the seven refitted aircraft.

Singapore Airlines cannot charge extra for this seat, since it does not know in advance whether a refitted or factory fitted A380 will be operating your flight.

What happened to SIA’s other 12 A380s?

With a limited (or close to non-existent) second-hand market for the Airbus A380, many of the dozen that Singapore Airlines has retired over the years have found their way to the scrapheap.

Most recently that included 9V-SKG and -SKH, broken up at the Changi Exhibition Centre back in October 2021, followed by 9V-SKI and 9V-SKJ on a random taxiway near Changi Airport Terminal 1 back in December 2022.

Here’s a bit of nostalgia for the A380 lovers, showing all 12 Airbus A380s Singapore Airlines has operated over the years that have now been retired and/or scrapped.

Singapore Airlines Retired A380 Fleet

Aircraft	Current / Last Location	Version	Fate / Status
9V-SKA	LDE	V1	Scrapped Jan 2020
9V-SKB	LDE	V1	Scrapped Feb 2020
9V-SKC	LDE	V1	Stored (as 9H-MIP)
9V-SKD	LDE	V1	Scrapped Jun 2022
9V-SKE	LDE	V1	Scrapped May 2021
9V-SKF	SIN	V1	Stored
9V-SKG	SIN	V1	Scrapped Oct 2021
9V-SKH	SIN	V1	Scrapped Oct 2021
9V-SKI	SIN	V1	Scrapped Dec 2022
9V-SKJ	SIN	V1	Scrapped Dec 2022
9V-SKK	ASP	V1	Stored
9V-SKL	ASP	V2	Stored

ASP Alice Springs Airport, Australia
LDE Tarbes–Lourdes–Pyrénées Airport, France
SIN Singapore Changi Airport

9V-SKK will see out the end of its lease in Alice Springs before leaving the fleet, while 9V-SKF is still parked at Changi awaiting its fate – sadly it too will be broken up and used only for spare parts.

9V-SKL already came to the end of its lease, and has been returned to its owner German investment company Lloyd Fonds AG. The aircraft has been stored in Alice Springs since February 2021. You can see a recent photo of it here, with SIA markings now removed.

It’s fate is unknown, but there’s probably a safe assumption here – it won’t fly again.

Singapore Airlines has finally completed the seventh and final cabin refit of its Airbus A380 fleet, six years after the “new” products were first revealed.

This brings the 12th and final Airbus A380 into the operating fleet, with 9V-SKP entering regular passenger service this morning.

While operating 12 A380s is a significant milestone for the airline post-COVID, at 63% of the former superjumbo fleet it’s sadly impossible for the popular aircraft to return to all its former routes.

Currently the carrier is flying to seven destinations with its A380s, a total it looks to keep more or less the same in the summer 2024 season, though Tokyo and Auckland routes will make way for a Frankfurt return come April next year.

(Cover Photo: Shutterstock)