Almost exactly a year ago, in March 2023, we reported on Singapore Airlines running into difficulties securing approvals for flights to three cities in mainland China, with services to Chongqing, Shenzhen and Xiamen all abruptly axed for the summer 2023 schedule from the end of that month.

The carrier’s Chengdu flights were then halted too, from late October 2023.

Those routes were all restored in late November or early December 2023, but with schedules only loaded through to the end of this week, an apparent lack of approval from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) means that the same problem will affect the carrier again from April 2024, this time affecting three cities.

Chengdu, Chongqing and Xiamen suspended

Singapore Airlines will suspend three of its China routes later this week – Chengdu, Chongqing and Xiamen.

Once again, the airline is citing “regulatory reasons” for the suspension.

At least in the case of Chengdu and Chongqing, this is reportedly because Singapore Airlines has not received approval CAAC to renew flights, and it’s likely that the Xiamen route faces the same issue too.

“We will continue to work closely with the relevant authorities, as we adjust our network and capacity to China.”

SIA Spokesperson, in response to The Straits Times

Here’s the impact on a route-by-route basis.

Chengdu

Singapore Airlines started flights to Chengdu on 1st November 2022.

The former SilkAir route saw 10 times weekly service using a mixture of Boeing 737-800 and Airbus A320 aircraft back in early 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic, but SIA initially started its own flights to the city using a three-class Airbus A350 Long Haul just once per week, on Tuesdays.

SIA’s Chengdu services then suffered a brief pause between late October and early December 2023, when they were reinstated again with Boeing 737-8 MAX flights between three and seven times per week.

Currently the service runs daily, as shown below.

Now – 30th March 2024

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	SQ842 737-8 MAX
SIN 17:30		TFU 22:20
	SQ843 737-8 MAX
TFU 23:20		SIN 04:45*

* Next day

Unfortunately this route will face yet another suspension, starting in the coming days.

The final Singapore Airlines flight to and from Chengdu will be on 30th March 2024, with no further services loaded in the schedule.

Chongqing

Chongqing is an interesting route because the Singapore Airlines Group never stopped serving it during COVID-19.

Pre-pandemic SilkAir flights were cut down from daily to once weekly (Monday) services in April 2020, but in fact it became SilkAir’s sole remaining route for around six weeks, between early April and mid-June 2020.

Indeed in those early days of the pandemic, it was one of only two cities SIA continued to serve in mainland China, the other being Shanghai.

Chongqing flights transferred to Singapore Airlines on 8th March 2021, as SilkAir operations were progressively merged into those of the mainline carrier, initially using Boeing 737-800 aircraft but later upgraded to the larger Boeing 787-10 from July 2021.

Singapore Airlines was then forced to suspend these flights in late March 2023, but they were reinstated in late November last year, operating three times per week on the Boeing 737-8 MAX as shown in the following schedule.

Now – 30th March 2024

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	SQ818 737-8 MAX
SIN 18:40		CKG 23:25
	SQ819 737-8 MAX
CKG 00:40		SIN 05:35

As with Chengdu, the Chongqing route will be suspended again from later this week.

The final Singapore Airlines flight to Chongqing will be on 29th March 2024, departing back to Singapore in the early hours of 30th March 2024, with no further flights loaded in the schedule.

Xiamen

Xiamen was operated daily by SilkAir pre-pandemic before its COVID suspension, and was then restarted on 3rd November 2022 as a weekly Singapore Airlines service, using Airbus A350 Medium Haul aircraft.

The route operated twice weekly on Thursdays and Saturdays, but was suspended last year between late March and early December, when it was reinstated on a daily basis using Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft, as shown in the following schedule.

Now – 30th March 2024

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	SQ868 737-8 MAX
SIN 07:55		XMN 12:10
	SQ869 737-8 MAX
XMN 13:10		SIN 18:10

Xiamen flights will also be suspended again later this week, with the final service operating on 30th March 2024, and no reinstatement date confirmed at the time of writing.

These routes maintain a Singapore link

Some good news for those who need to travel between Singapore and these three cities is that links will still exist this summer season, even though they will once again temporarily lose their SIA service.

Here’s how it looks for the summer 2024 season:

• Chengdu (TFU)
  Both Air China (CA) and Sichuan Airlines (3U) will continue to offer daily flights to and from Changi, using Airbus A320 family aircraft.
• Chongqing (CKG)
  Air China (CA) will continue to offer daily Boeing 737-800 flights to and from Changi, while Chongqing Airlines (OQ) has daily Airbus A320 service on this route.
• Xiamen (XMN)
  Xiamen Air will continue to offer twice daily flights to and from Changi, using a mixture of Boeing 737-800, Boeing 787-8 and Boeing 787-9 aircraft.

Nonetheless the continued back-and-forth approvals for SIA on these routes are starting to raise eyebrows among business leaders in China, who are voicing concerns about the issue.

“If we face this kind of uncertainty every aviation season, it will indeed affect the confidence of foreign companies to invest in China.”

Wu Shicun, President China-Singapore Chamber of Commerce (Chongqing branch)

Let’s hope the situation can be resolved soon on a permanent basis, something SIA is no doubt keen to achieve.

Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen continue

Despite these route suspensions, Singapore Airlines will continue to operate flights to four cities in mainland China this summer season:

• Beijing (PEK)
  14/wk, rising to 21/wk
• Guangzhou (CAN)
  14/wk
• Shanghai (PVG)
  35/wk
• Shenzhen (SZX)
  7/wk

Interestingly, Shenzhen also suffered an SIA route suspension last year, but the issue there appears to have been resolved so there is no interruption in service expected for this route until late October 2024, at which point these flights currently drop off the radar again, subject to change.

Here’s a summary of the flights operating on these four routes between now and late October 2024, including the aircraft types and Business Class seats being used.

As you can see, the Shanghai route has recently picked up Airbus A380 services once again, between 5th August 2024 and 14th September 2024, then on a permanent basis from 15th October 2024.

Full details are available in our recent article covering this change.

All Singapore – China routes

As of April 2024, 14 airlines offer 384 flights per week from Singapore to mainland China (excluding flights to SARs Hong Kong and Macau), including local carriers Scoot and Jetstar Asia.

Here’s how the list looks, if you’re planning a China trip.

Travel to China

Thankfully travel to China for Singapore citizens has become increasingly straightforward over the last 15 months or so, following a series of relaxations that progressively saw quarantine and testing requirements abolished, and the issuance of tourist visas once again.

Health declaration forms have been scrapped, and Singapore passport holders are now exempt from any visa requirements for stays of up to 30 days in China, since 9th February 2024.

The 30-day visa waiver covers trips for the following purposes:

• Business
• Sightseeing / Tourism
• Visiting friends and family, or other private affairs

This has doubled the possible visa-free trip length for Singapore citizens from 15 days pre-COVID, adding significant flexibility, but perhaps the biggest beneficiaries are Chinese citizens, who also now no longer need a visa to travel to Singapore for trips of the same duration.

Malaysian citizens were also recently accorded 15-day visa-free travel to China, effective from 1st December 2023. That relaxation is on a trial basis for one year, until 30th November 2024.

Those with Thai passports are now also able to make 30-day visa-free trips to China since 1st March 2024, on a permanent basis.

Singapore residents holding most other nationalities will still need to apply for a visa to visit China, except when travelling to Hainan Island, which allows those with 59 nationalities to travel visa-free for up to 30 days, though onward travel from Hainan to Mainland China for non-Singaporeans is not permitted without a relevant visa.

Singapore Airlines is once again being forced to suspend flights to three cities in mainland China, this time for the summer 2024 season, due to a lack of regulatory approvals from CAAC.

This is despite these routes being reinstated only four months ago, an agreement that apparently was only a temporary reprieve for the carrier.

The good news is that there are still airline links between Singapore and Chengdu, Chongqing and Xiamen in the meantime, but SIA must be eager to get this situation resolved permanently so it can provide consistency and certainty to customers in these markets, many of whom no doubt connect to other points on the carrier’s network via Changi.

In more good news, travel to and from China is even easier than it was in pre-COVID times, with 30-day visa-free travel approved for Singapore citizens and 15-day visa free travel for Malaysians.

(Cover Photo: Skycolors / Shutterstock)