Prior to COVID-19, Singapore Airlines operated nine flights each day to and from Jakarta, making it the carrier’s second busiest route by flight frequencies, but the Indonesian capital is one standout city that’s taking a long time for capacity to be restored since the pandemic.

Currently only six SIA flights per day are running, offering just 62% equivalent seat capacity when compared with January 2020.

That’s led to some high fares and limited award space on the city pair, but a temporary capacity hike is in store from next week, which will bring seat totals to 72% of 2020 levels, thanks to the reinstatement of a seventh daily service, albeit for a short three-week period covering Eid al-Fitr.

Meanwhile there’s bad news for those targeting a First Class seat or award redemption on the Jakarta route, which can be a popular option for trying out The Private Room at Changi Airport, with a one-third reduction in store for this cabin.

Additional Jakarta flights

From 2nd April 2024 to 21st April 2024, Singapore Airlines will operate the following additional flight to and from Jakarta, in addition to its usual six times daily regular services:

• SQ960: SIN-CGK
  15:15 – 16:00
  Airbus A350 Long Haul
• SQ961: CGK-SIN
  17:00 – 19:50
  Airbus A350 Long Haul

This one was a daily regular prior to COVID-19, but unfortunately it is only being added for this three-week peak holiday travel window in 2024.

Once these short-term flights cease, SIA’s Jakarta seat capacity will fall back to 10,780 per week in each direction, just 62% of pre-COVID levels, when 17,500 seats were on offer.

Additional daily Jakarta flights that SIA operated before the pandemic, but have yet to be reinstated at all, are SQ952/955 and SQ966/967.

Jakarta First Class cut to two daily flights

Jakarta is the closest city to Singapore on SIA’s network that features a First Class or Suites cabin, and it currently sees 21 out of 42 weekly flights in each direction using four-class Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, each of which boast four of the 2013 F seats.

That’s a nice benefit our readers sometimes use to their advantage as a low-outlay route either in miles or cash terms, in order to experience The Private Room at Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3 prior to departure, for a whole day or even the day before departure if they wish.

That strategy isn’t quite as easy as it was before COVID, however, with the Jakarta route already slimmed down to 84 First Class seats in each direction per week, compared to a whopping 280 seats in January 2020, and unfortunately there’s more bad news on this front from next week onwards.

From the start of the northern summer scheduling season, Singapore Airlines is swapping out one of its three daily Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on the Jakarta route with an Airbus A350 Long Haul, which does not feature a First Class cabin.

• SQ968: SIN-CGK
  21:55 – 22:40
  Boeing 777-300ER
  Airbus A350 Long Haul
  from 31st March 2024
• SQ951: CGK-SIN
  05:25 – 08:10
  Boeing 777-300ER
  Airbus A350 Long Haul
  from 1st April 2024

That will mean no First Class offering on this late night service from Singapore to Jakarta, or its early morning counterpart in the return direction.

It will reduce daily First Class capacity on this route to just 8 seats in each direction, or 56 per week, now limited to the following flights:

• SQ950/953
• SQ964/965

It’s not only a 33% reduction compared with the current level, but an 80% cut compared to pre-COVID, when 280 First Class seats plied this route in each direction on a weekly basis.

Here’s how First Class capacity to and from Jakarta has dwindled since pre-COVID times.

First Class seats per day (SIN-CGK)
Seat	Pre-COVID (Jan 2020)	Now (Mar 2024)	From Apr 2024
2006 F (retired)	280	—	—
2013 F	—	84	56
Total	280	84	56

This latest cut will make it all the more difficult to secure a spot in this top cabin on the Jakarta route this summer.

Cabin products on SIA’s Jakarta flights

Here are the cabin products in First Class and Business Class you’ll find on offer flying to or from Jakarta during the summer 2024 season.

Singapore Jakarta
31st March 2024 – 26th October 2024

All services operate daily

			First Class	Business Class
	SQ950 777-300ER		2013 F	2013 J
SIN 06:20		CGK 07:05
	SQ956 A350 LH			2013 J
SIN 09:25		CGK 10:10
	SQ958 A350 LH			2013 J
SIN 12:30		CGK 13:15
	SQ960* A350 LH			2013 J
SIN 15:15		CGK 16:00
	SQ962 A350 LH			2013 J
SIN 16:25		CGK 17:10
	SQ964 777-300ER		2013 F	2013 J
SIN 17:20		CGK 18:05
	SQ968 A350 LH			2013 J
SIN 21:55		CGK 22:40

* 2 Apr 2024 – 21 Apr 2024 only

Jakarta Singapore
31st March 2024 – 26th October 2024

All services operate daily

			First Class	Business Class
	SQ951 A350 LH			2013 J
CGK 05:25		SIN 08:10
	SQ953 777-300ER		2013 F	2013 J
CGK 07:55		SIN 10:45
	SQ957 A350 LH			2013 J
CGK 11:15		SIN 14:05
	SQ959 A350 LH			2013 J
CGK 14:10		SIN 17:10
	SQ961* A350 LH			2013 J
CGK 17:00		SIN 19:50
	SQ963 A350 LH			2013 J
CGK 18:05		SIN 20:55
	SQ965 777-300ER		2013 F	2013 J
CGK 19:00		SIN 21:50

* 2 Apr 2024 – 21 Apr 2024 only

As you can see, you’re now restricted to SQ950 and SQ964 from Singapore to Jakarta each day, or to SQ953 or SQ965 from Jakarta to Singapore, if it’s a First Class seat you’re after.

That also limits likely First Class award space on this route over the next seven months.

Even if you can secure an award though, there’s a big downside to SQ950, concerning access to The Private Room.

That service departs from Changi at 6.20am, and The Private Room in T3 only opens at 5.30am each morning. By then, the gate for your departing Jakarta flight, which will actually be over in T2, is already open, with boarding commencing soon afterwards.

It doesn’t even allow time for breakfast in The Private Room, so to take full advantage you’ll actually need to book SQ964 (now that the later SQ968 isn’t an option), or check-in the day before and enjoy the lounge for lunch and/or dinner, then stay in one of the transit hotels prior to your early morning SQ950 departure.

You can check in for any SIA flight up to 48 hours before departure, however access to the transit area where the lounges are located is only permitted up to 24 hours before your departure.

The situation on the Jakarta route does improve in the forthcoming northern winter 2024/25 season timetable from 27th October 2024, provisionally at least, with a return to three out of six daily flights once again operated by the Boeing 777-300ER.

That sees SQ968/951 getting its Boeing 777-300ER reinstated, though it remains subject to change at this early stage (copy-paste of the previous season is the usual schedule tactic, with final aircraft types allocated closer to the time).

First Class has been cut almost network-wide

To some extent, this news isn’t too surprising.

In January 2020, there were 1,946 Singapore Airlines First Class or Suites seats departing out Changi Airport per week, but in April 2024 that total is just 714 per week, less than 37% in comparison.

Demand for efficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic led to an earlier-than-planned withdrawal of older types with First Class seats fitted, like the Boeing 777-300s plus some Airbus A380s and Boeing 777-300ERs, while the airline’s newest type to include a First Class cabin – the upcoming Boeing 777-9 – is suffering long production delays.

The future flagship of the fleet, a total of 31 Boeing 777-9s will enter service with the carrier, but the first was supposed to be flying in SIA colours three years ago – in 2021. The type’s latest entry into service estimate is still at least 18 months away, but we reckon two more years from now is a closer bet.

Here’s our comprehensive overview of what you can expect from the new type, when it finally arrives!

Even SIA’s Boeing 777-300ER fleet won’t return to full strength. The carrier trimmed its total of the type during COVID-19 from 27 to 23, and at the time of writing only 17 of these are in revenue service (65% of the pre-pandemic total).

16 SIA cities have First Class this summer

Despite this reduction, Jakarta will still be one of 16 cities with a First Class and/or Suites offering on the Singapore Airlines network this summer season, from April to October 2024.

Our dedicated and continually-updated summary provides the full details of which cabins are flying where, flight number by flight number.

On the plus side, Melbourne increases from one to two daily flights with First Class offered, in the form of the 2013 seat fitted to the Boeing 777-300ER, while Frankfurt gets an A380 Suites cabin on a daily basis, in addition to its regular 777-300ER service.

You can also refer to our updated Business Class seats by Route page to see the aircraft and seat types in that cabin operating network-wide this summer.

Capacity on SIA’s Jakarta route has stalled at around 62% of pre-COVID seats since the pandemic, but there’s a short-term boost in store during April 2024, thanks to a peak season return for the afternoon SQ960/961 service.

Sadly it’s short-lived, but hopefully flights like this one (and the other two still ‘missing in action’) can make a permanent comeback in the months ahead.

As far as First Class is concerned – sadly Jakarta is bearing the brunt of a 33% cut in capacity from next week, with only 8 seats offered in this top cabin in each direction on a daily basis, which represents an 80% cut compared to pre-COVID levels.

That makes a miles redemption to experience some pre-flight pampering in The Private Room at Changi Airport harder to come by, especially with the unsociably early departure for SQ950 – one of the two remaining options – which would require you to check in the day before to get a decent experience here.

In terms of both capacity expansion and a wider presence of First Class on the network, we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again… those Boeing 777-9s can’t come soon enough.

(Cover Photo: MainlyMiles)