Singapore Airlines brings the A380 and Suites back to Frankfurt

Many of our readers are always on the lookout for new Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 routes, and next week sees the return of a superjumbo option to the network, with Frankfurt in Germany receiving a daily service with the popular aircraft type, including the carrier’s famous Suites cabin.

This will be the first time Singapore Airlines has flown the A380 to Frankfurt since it downgraded its one-stop New York JFK service SQ26/25 to the Boeing 777-300ER in mid-May 2023.

That service had been using the aircraft type for over a year, since March 2022.

Frankfurt’s reinstated SIA A380 service

This time round, it’s the Singapore – Frankfurt terminator flight SQ326/325 that will pick up the Airbus A380, which sadly means it won’t be returning to its former transatlantic jaunt across to New York after landing in the German city.

Instead the aircraft turns around and heads back to Singapore a few hours later.

The benefit here is that the Singapore – Frankfurt leg of the journey is a daytime service, with an overnight flight only on the way back to Changi, the opposite of what the A380 used to do on this route as SQ26/25. It’ll be the first time Singapore Airlines has offered a daytime A380 service to Frankfurt.

The Airbus A380 replaces the Airbus A350 Long Haul on the SQ326/325 from 31st March 2024, as outlined in the schedule below, which also shows how the SQ26/25 Frankfurt flight operates alongside this one.

SIA
Singapore – Frankfurt – Singapore

31 Mar 2024

26 Oct 2024

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	SQ326 A380
SIN 10:55		FRA 17:40
	SQ26 777-300ER
SIN 23:55		FRA 06:45*
	SQ25 777-300ER
FRA 12:30		SIN 06:50*
	SQ325 A380
FRA 21:40		SIN 16:05*

* Next day

The SQ325 return sector of this routing still has a special place in our hearts, as we travelled in First Class on that very timing from Frankfurt to Singapore on the inaugural VTL flight (remember VTL flights?), in September 2021, though a Boeing 777-300ER was used at the time.

Frankfurt will be the second European city featuring Airbus A380 service this summer, with London Heathrow still seeing twice-daily operation of the type (SQ308/319 and SQ322/317), alongside two daily Boeing 777-300ER services.

Elsewhere in Europe this summer, SIA will return to Brussels from 4th April and will also start serving London Gatwick for the first time, from 21st June.

Regular services to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Istanbul, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Paris, Rome and Zurich all continue alongside the aforementioned cities.

You can refer to our continually-updated guide showing which aircraft types and Business Class seats are being deployed across the SIA network between now and late October 2024, for more details about these routes.

The A380 is year-round to Frankfurt

The other good news about A380s returning to Frankfurt is that this isn’t just a seasonal addition, like it sometimes can be when it comes to the airline’s limited 12-strong superjumbo fleet.

SIA is planning to continue operating its twice daily Frankfurt services with both the Airbus A380 (SQ326/325) and the Boeing 777-300ER (SQ26/25) through to the end of the northern winter season, at least year from now in late March 2025.

Here’s how the winter timings look.

SIA
Singapore – Frankfurt – Singapore

27 Oct 2024

29 Mar 2025

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	SQ326 A380
SIN 10:55		FRA 17:30
	SQ26 777-300ER
SIN 23:55		FRA 06:20*
	SQ25 777-300ER
FRA 11:40		SIN 06:50*
	SQ325 A380
FRA 21:55		SIN 17:15*

* Next day

Frankfurt award redemptions

These are the KrisFlyer miles needed for the Singapore – Frankfurt route.

KrisFlyer Redemption (one-way) Singapore ⇄ Frankfurt
Class	Saver	Advantage
Economy	42,000	70,000
Premium Economy	71,000	n/a
Business	103,500	123,000
First / Suites	141,000	225,500

As you might expect, Saver awards in Suites are nearly impossible to come by on this route, with the Advantage pricing of 225,500 miles each way currently the norm.

Business Class, however, is a different story. Here there are plenty of opportunities to redeem at the saver rate of 103,500 miles one-way, thanks to the larger 78 seat cabin on the A380, an 85% capacity hike compared to the Airbus A350 Long Haul it is replacing.

That’s especially the case 355 days before departure, when SIA first opens award seats for booking and the airline seems to be loading six Saver Business Class awards on each flight, for travel in March 2025. This is therefore a great time to jump on award space – see our article for full details.

The bad news: Tokyo and Auckland lose the A380

It’s always great to be reporting on a new destination for the Singapore Airlines Airbus A380, but with a limited post-COVID fleet of only 12 aircraft at its disposal, seven less than in 2019, these kind of announcements rarely come without a downside.

Tokyo and Auckland, both routes that picked up the A380 for the current winter season since late October 2023, will unfortunately both lose A380 service the same day that Frankfurt gains it, in late March 2024.

• The airline’s SQ638/637 Tokyo Narita service, operated by the A380 since 29th October 2023, will revert to two-class Boeing 787-10 operation from 31st March 2024.
• The airline’s SQ285/286 Auckland service, operated by the A380 since 22nd November 2023, will revert to three class Airbus A350 Long Haul operation from 31st March 2024.

That’s really bad news for many of our Japan-loving readers in particular, who had been longing for the A380 to return to the country and rejoiced in the news that it would finally do so last year.

So far there is no sign of the A380 being deployed on either of these routes even during the upcoming winter season (from late October 2024), however keep your fingers crossed as that portion of the schedule is still somewhat in flux, especially as far as aircraft type allocation is concerned.

A380 cabin products

This A380 service will mean a return to Frankfurt for SIA’s latest Airbus A380 cabin products once again.

2017 Suites

The biggest selling point of the newly configured A380s is the latest Suites cabin, located on the forward upper deck with a capacity of just six, three either side of a central aisle.

Two of the Suite pairs (1A/2A and 1F/2F) can combine to form a double suite if you are travelling with someone else.

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

Although Singapore Airlines stopped short of installing showers in the latest A380 fit, there are two large washrooms at the front of the cabin, one of which is so big it has its own separate vanity area.

We also enjoyed the ‘A380 Restaurant@Changi’ experience on board the new Suites cabin back in October 2020 – see our review here.

These new Suites will return to the Frankfurt route on a regular basis for the first time since May 2023 as a result of this reinstatement.

Suite selection

If you’re flying on the SQ326/325 flights on the Frankfurt route from 31st March 2024, the Airbus A380 Suites seat map looks like this:

Couples will clearly want to go for the two double suite options at 1A/2A or 1F/2F. Here the dividing screen between the suites retracts and allows for a double bed setup.

Suites 3A and 3F are standalone options, lacking the ability to combine with adjacent suites. They also have the smallest footprint and are close to the galley, potentially leading to some light and noise disturbance.

While we don’t want to spoil anyone’s fun by blocking the double suites, as solo travellers we would still choose row 1 or row 2 for not only a larger suite (row 3 suites are the smallest), but less potential disturbance.

Here’s a to-scale representation of the A380 Suites cabin.

2017 Business Class

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 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.

It’s certainly great to see this product offered to and from China once again with this daily A380 Shanghai service.

Where else are SIA’s A380s flying?

Here’s a summary of where SIA is operating its Airbus A380s, between now and late October 2024.

Singapore to/from	NW23/24 (Mar ’24)	NS24 (Apr ’24 – Oct ’24)
Auckland
Delhi		*
Frankfurt
Hong Kong		*
London Heathrow
Mumbai		*
Shanghai		*
Sydney
Tokyo Narita

* Partial operation during the season

Do note that there are some temporary reductions in place practically season-wide for the airline’s A380 services, which Singapore Airlines has confirmed to Mainly Miles is due to scheduled maintenance checks.

“Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) Airbus A380 aircraft will undergo regular maintenance in the coming months. As a result, there will be adjustments to our aircraft deployment plans for selected flights on our Delhi, Hong Kong SAR, Mumbai, and Sydney services from April 2024 to October 2024.”

SIA Spokesperson

The A380 will be removed from the following regular routes this coming summer 2024 season, and replaced temporarily with Boeing 777-300ER operation in all cases:

• Hong Kong (SQ892/893)
  1st April – 9th June
  17th June – 23rd June
  16th September – 14th October
• Mumbai (SQ424/423)
  24th June – 14th July
• Delhi (SQ406/403)
  15th July – 4th August
• Sydney (SQ221/232)
  4th August – 13th September
  14th October – 26th October

As you can see, the return of the Airbus A380 on daily Shanghai flights closely mimics the period where one of the two daily Sydney services downgrades to the Boeing 777-300ER.

For full details including the schedules, check out our updated dedicated guide on where SIA is flying its Airbus A380s between now and late October 2024.

Singapore Airlines is bringing its Airbus A380 back to Frankfurt from next week, with a daily turnaround service that offers another superjumbo daytime flight to Europe, with an overnight return sector.

This will also offer six of the carrier’s famous Suites, in addition to four First Class seats each day on the Boeing 777-300ER service.

Plentiful award space is available in Business Class, especially at the T-355 days mark where six immediately-confirmable seats are loaded at the Saver level, but in Suites it’s mostly Advantage rates on offer.

Unfortunately the airline’s Tokyo and Auckland routes will lose A380 service just as Frankfurt gets its upgrade, reverting to smaller aircraft for the northern summer season. Let’s hope we’ll see these cities back on the superjumbo’s roster in future.

(Cover Photo: Shutterstock)