It’s been almost two years since Australia dropped all of its COVID-19 border restrictions, a development that came three months after Singapore reopened its border to all vaccinated travellers, later ditching both testing and vaccination requirements.

You might assume, therefore, that SIA’s flight capacity between Singapore and Australia is now back to pre-pandemic levels – but you’d be wrong.

While a seasonal boost was in place on some routes from early December 2023 to mid-January 2024, seat capacity on the carrier’s services in April 2024 is still less than 90% of February 2020 levels.

Coupled with a buoyant travel recovery, that’s led to demand outstripping supply on the airline’s Aussie routes for at least the last year – a formula that’s resulted in higher fares and constrained award space.

There’s good news on the horizon though, if you’re willing to be a bit patient.

Singapore Airlines has revealed a capacity hike to 103% of pre-COVID levels on Australia flights, thanks to progressive frequency increases on four routes in May, August, and finally in October 2024.

Current capacity levels

Here’s how the airline’s Australia schedule looks as of April 2024, compared to February 2020.

Route	Australia Passenger Seat Capacity (ex-SIN, per week)
	Feb 2020	Apr 2024	As % of Feb 2020
Adelaide	2,121	2,359	111%
Brisbane	8,134	6,363	78%
Cairns	1,134	1,212	107%
Darwin	1,134	1,078	95%
Melbourne	8,580*	7,238	84%
Perth	8,960	8,960	100%
Sydney	12,138**	10,213	84%
Total	42,201	37,423	89%

Feb 2020 capacity also includes SilkAir services, where applicable
* Feb 2020 – includes Wellington-bound pax (SQ247 SIN-MEL-WLG)
** Feb 2020 – includes Canberra-bound pax (SQ288 SIN-SYD-CBR)

Nearly 5,000 ‘missing’ seats per week is no small volume, so April 2024’s capacity totals on many routes are still likely causing high fares.

SIA’s Perth route recently rebounded to pre-COVID capacity with four daily flights since 31st March 2024; two using the Airbus A350 Medium Haul and two using the Boeing 787-10.

That’s the same flight schedule offered on this city pair before the pandemic.

However, it’s worth noting that just before COVID hit a fifth daily Perth flight was announced, starting in June 2020, though for obvious reasons it never happened – by June 2020 Perth was down to zero daily SIA flights!

Nonetheless this additional daily SQ229/230 service that never saw the light of day is still not part of the airline’s plans, some four years later.

The good news is a final push is underway by Singapore Airlines, on most routes at least, to bridge that last 11% capacity gap on Australia flights over the coming months.

SIA’s Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney increases

During this summer season, Singapore Airlines will increase frequencies on the following Australia routes:

• Melbourne from 28/wk to 35/wk from 26th May 2024, with additional daily Airbus A350 Medium Haul flights. These upgrade to the Airbus A350 Long Haul from 1st August 2024.
• Brisbane from 21/wk to 25/wk from 4th August 2024, with additional Airbus A350 Medium Haul flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

From 27th October 2024, the start of the northern winter timetable season, Singapore Airlines will increase frequencies on the following Australia routes:

• Adelaide from 7/wk to 10/wk, with additional Boeing 787-10 flights on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
• Sydney from 28/wk to 35/wk, with additional daily Boeing 777-300ER flights.

103% of pre-COVID capacity to Australia

As a result of these service boosts, Singapore Airlines will actually exceed pre-COVID passenger capacity on its flights to Australia as a whole, with 43,265 departing seats per week from Changi by early November 2024, compared to 42,201 in February 2020.

That will represent 103% of pre-pandemic seats to and from this important market for the carrier.

However, with 144 weekly Australia departures out of Changi, practically identical to the 145 seen in February 2020, not all routes have recovered equally.

Here’s how that capacity restoration looks on a route-by-route basis.

Route	Australia Passenger Seat Capacity (ex-SIN, per week)
	Apr 2024		Nov 2024
	Seats	% of pre-COV.	Seats	% of pre-COV.
Adelaide	2,359	111%	3,370	159%
Brisbane	6,363	78%	7,575	93%
Cairns	1,212	107%	1,212	107%
Darwin	1,078	95%	1,078	95%
Melbourne	7,238	84%	9,009	105%
Perth	8,960	100%	8,960	100%
Sydney	10,213	84%	12,061	99%
All	37,423	89%	43,265	103%

Note: % of pre-COV. is a comparison with February 2020 capacity and also includes SilkAir services, where applicable

Adelaide gets the biggest boost, with 10 times weekly Boeing 787-10 service offering 3,370 seats in each direction, a massive 59% capacity boost compared to pre-COVID, when daily flights used smaller Airbus A350 Medium Haul aircraft.

The South Australian capital has a significant transit market to and from Europe, and SIA is no doubt capitalising on the delayed return of Cathay Pacific, China Southern and Emirates to the airport, all three of whom suspended regular Adelaide services in the early days of the pandemic.

Of those three, only Emirates has announced its return – but not until late October 2024. SIA should be able to ‘make hay’ with this one for a while to come.

Cairns has also seen a big hike, thanks to four times weekly Airbus A350 Medium Haul flights eclipsing the pre-pandemic daily Boeing 737-800 service by 7% in capacity terms, though fewer operating days sadly means less flexibility for travellers on this route.

Surprisingly it’s Brisbane that sees the biggest shortfall, with only 25 weekly services back from early August 2024, compared to 28 services pre-pandemic, representing only 93% of seat capacity restored.

That’s perhaps all the more poignant for the SIA Group in Queensland, following the news that Scoot permanently axed its four times weekly Singapore – Gold Coast link in mid-2023, after more than a decade.

Perhaps this part of Australia just had too much capacity before the pandemic.

Only one Airbus A380 route

Unfortunately SIA’s Australia services still see only one Airbus A380 route for the foreseeable future, which unsurprisingly is Sydney.

That’s despite Melbourne seeing the superjumbo operating during the summer 2023 season, an allocation sadly not repeated this year.

Even Sydney loses out on some A380 services over the next six months.

One of the two regular twice-daily superjumbo links is replaced by a Boeing 777-300ER for eight weeks this summer, due to A380 maintenance downtime that also affects Hong Kong, Mumbai and Delhi on a rolling basis between April and October 2024.

Thankfully consistent double-daily A380 flights on the Singapore – Sydney route are back for the northern winter season, from late October 2024.

By that time, with five daily services offering 12,061 seats per week in each direction, Sydney will become the sixth-busiest city on the SIA network in terms of passenger capacity, after Bangkok, Hong Kong, Bali, Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo.

Award pricing

KrisFlyer awards on Australia flights fall into two zones; a shorter one applicable only to Darwin and Perth services, and a longer one for all other cities.

Here’s a breakdown of the KrisFlyer miles needed to redeem Darwin and Perth routes.

KrisFlyer Redemption (one-way) Singapore ⇄ Australia (Darwin & Perth)
	Saver	Advantage
Economy	21,500	37,000
Business	40,500	65,000

Here’s a breakdown of the KrisFlyer miles needed to redeem all other Australia flights, which covers Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne and Sydney routes.

KrisFlyer Redemption (one-way) Singapore ⇄ Australia (excl. Darwin & Perth)
	Saver	Advantage
Economy	30,500	55,000
Premium Economy	51,000	n/a
Business	68,500	90,000
First / Suites	93,500	155,000

Spontaneous Escapes sales for those who can make short-term travel plans the following month are regularly available, which typically sees these rates cut by 30%.

However, those awards are non-refundable and only selected cities and cabin classes are included.

Jump on award space up to a year in advance

Remember that you can sometimes jump on plenty of Saver award space, even in Business Class, right when SIA first opens award seats for booking 355 days before departure.

For example, on Singapore – Melbourne flights a year from now there are at least two immediately-confirmable Saver Business award seats on all five daily flights, and some of these actually have six Saver Business Class awards loaded.

This can therefore be a great time to jump on award space if you can make advance travel plans – see our article for full details.

SIA’s Australia flights have suffered from high fares and limited award space since post-pandemic border reopening, as a result of high demand and reduced flights.

The good news is that 2024 will finally see the carrier return to (and even exceed) pre-COVID capacity to and from Australia, with some routes seeing up to 159% of their former weekly seat totals on offer, though 103% is the overall level across the country.

Combined with more flights by other carriers in this market like Thai Airways and Garuda Indonesia, plus new entrants like Turkish Airlines, we should hopefully see fares come down this year, with more award space to boot.

Remember you can often secure plentiful redemptions in Business Class on Singapore Airlines flights 355 days before your travel date, when seats are first released, if you are able to make travel plans that far in advance.

(Cover Photo: Kevin Hackert / Shutterstock)