Recently, we reported on Singapore Airlines reducing its London Heathrow flights during November 2024, with that cut to services on the route from 28 per week down to 24 flights per week already in effect, before the usual four times daily operation is restored once again later this month.

The good news about the current reduction is that Airbus A380 service remains at twice daily (14 times per week), thanks to some SQ318/321 flights upgauging to the superjumbo on the days that SQ308/319 flights have been temporarily axed.

Now there’s news of another capacity cut for the carrier’s Heathrow flights in early 2025, which this time will see a 50% reduction in Airbus A380 operation for February and March 2025 – bad news for cabin products especially for those with a Suites booking.

The schedule

Singapore Airlines usually operates four daily flights between Changi Airport and London Heathrow Airport, two using the Airbus A380 and two using the Boeing 777-300ER.

These are the longest non-stop flights on the network for both aircraft types – clocking in at over 14 hours.

However, for two months next year, covering the 1st February 2025 to 29th March 2025 period, that schedule is being adjusted.

While four times daily service will continue as usual, SQ308 and SQ319 flights will downgauge from the Airbus A380 to the Boeing 777-300ER.

Here’s how the revised schedule looks for these services during the aforementioned period.

Singapore London Heathrow
1 Feb 2025 – 29 Mar 2025

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	SQ306 777-300ER
SIN 01:10		LHR 07:25
Duration: 14:15
	SQ308 A380 777-300ER
SIN 09:00		LHR 15:35
Duration: 14:35
	SQ318 777-300ER
SIN 12:45		LHR 19:10
Duration: 14:25
	SQ322 A380
SIN 23:45		LHR 05:55*
Duration: 14:10

* Next day

London Heathrow Singapore
1 Feb 2025 – 29 Mar 2025

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	SQ305 777-300ER
LHR 09:10		SIN 06:00*
Duration: 12:50
	SQ317 A380
LHR 10:55		SIN 07:50*
Duration: 12:55
	SQ319 A380 777-300ER
LHR 20:35		SIN 17:30*
Duration: 12:55
	SQ321 777-300ER
LHR 22:05		SIN 19:00*
Duration: 12:55

* Next day

This will leave the SQ322 and SQ317 flights as the sole Airbus A380 option each day on the London Heathrow route during February and March next year.

Overall weekly seat capacity on SIA’s London Heathrow route will fall from 10,290 per week to 8,841 per week, a 14% reduction, as outlined in the following table.

Singapore Airlines London Heathrow Seat Capacity (one-way, per week)
Cabin	Regular year-round	Feb / Mar 2025	Change
Suites	84	42	50%
First Class	56	84	50%
Business Class	1,764	1,554	12%
Premium Economy	1,008	896	11%
Economy	7,378	6,265	15%
Total Seats	10,290	8,841	14%

The change also halves the number of Suites available on the route from 84 to 42 per week in each direction, while increasing the Boeing 777-300ER First Class from 56 to 84 weekly.

It’s a far cry from 2023, when Singapore Airlines even gave Heathrow a seasonal boost with triple daily Airbus A380 service during the peak summer months.

Suites passengers are the worst hit

While this change isn’t a huge deal for those booked in Business Class, Premium Economy or Economy Class, if you snagged a Suites award or forked out cash for this exclusive cabin, the alternative seat you’ll now have isn’t quite on-par.

For Suites passengers booked on the affected SQ308/319 flights, it will mean the experience changing from this…

to this…

Obviously that’s quite a downgrade, and may be enough make you consider whether your miles or cash outlay for this cabin is still worthwhile.

If you are affected and downgraded to the Boeing 777-300ER, you may be able to request a switch to the SQ322/317 service, which still has the A380 Suites cabin operating each day during this two-month period.

However, even if SIA can offer this change it would mean a significant timing change in both directions of your journey, as you can see from the flight schedule above.

If sticking to your original timing is the priority, you can read our review of SIA’s Boeing 777 First Class product here (don’t despair too much – we still really enjoy this one!).

In Business Class the impact is less consequential, with the newer 2017 seats on the A380 being replaced by the 2013 seats on the 777-300ER, since they are quite similar in most respects.

Two daily A380 flights restored for summer 2025

The two-month period of single daily Airbus A380 operation on SIA’s London Heathrow route ends on 29th March 2025, which is the last day of the northern winter schedule season.

From the following day, 30th March 2025, Singapore Airlines is planning to restore its regular year-round operation of twice daily Airbus A380 and twice daily Boeing 777-300ER flights on the route:

• SQ306/305: Boeing 777-300ER
• SQ308/319: Airbus A380
• SQ318/321: Boeing 777-300ER
• SQ322/317: Airbus A380

More A380 maintenance woes?

London Heathrow is one of the most coveted destinations in any airline’s network due to its limited slot availability, which makes each takeoff and landing slot at the airport a highly valuable and somewhat prized asset.

As the airline’s highest revenue route, for Singapore Airlines the decision to reduce capacity on Heathrow flights during early 2025 is therefore likely due to operational constraints, rather than a strategic choice.

SIA’s remaining 12 Airbus A380s in its slimmed-down post-COVID fleet have been plagued with maintenance requirements lately, some of which relate to regulatory airworthiness directives for the ageing aircraft, primarily related to wing crack inspections and repairs.

As a result, Singapore Airlines is flying its Airbus A380s to only five cities (Delhi, Frankfurt, London, Mumbai and Sydney) consistently this winter season, as shown below.

SIA Winter 24/25 A380 Flights
Route	Flights	Frequency
Delhi	SQ406/403	7 x weekly
Frankfurt (except 26 Dec, 15-31 Jan)	SQ326/325	7 x weekly
Hong Kong (16-31 Jan, 16-29 Mar only)	SQ892/893	7 x weekly
London Heathrow (27 Oct-23 Nov)	SQ322/317 SQ308/319 SQ318/321	7 x weekly 3 x weekly 4 x weekly
London Heathrow (24 Nov-31 Jan)	SQ322/317 SQ308/319	7 x weekly 7 x weekly
London Heathrow (1 Feb-29 Mar)	SQ322/317	7 x weekly
Mumbai	SQ424/423	7 x weekly
Shanghai (15-31 Jan only)	SQ830/833	7 x weekly
Sydney	SQ221/232 SQ231/222	7 x weekly 7 x weekly

For a full rundown of SIA’s Airbus A380 flight schedule between now and late March 2025, see our updated guide here.

The peak flying programme for the winter 2024/25 season in December 2024 and January 2025 can be operated with just eight A380s, with a ninth as an operational spare, suggesting that three A380s will continue to be out of action for most if not all of that period.

With a daily London rotation pulled from the A380’s roster, only eight aircraft are needed to fly the superjumbo schedule in February and March 2025.

That’s just seven to operate the flights, plus one acting as a spare, suggesting that four A380s (a third of the fleet) will be in maintenance during those two months.

Significant downtime for the airline’s Airbus A380 fleet has already seen them spending a lot of time in the hangar lately, causing schedule changes during the recent summer season on several routes, including Sydney.

Singapore Airlines isn’t even managing to keep up with its Airbus A380 maintenance in-house at the moment.

9V-SKT was flown to Teruel, Spain for the month of August 2024 to have its checks completed, and 9V-SKS has now taken its place there – out of action for two months already and still being worked on over in Europe.

The airline currently has nine of its 12 A380s in operation, as outlined below.

Singapore Airlines A380 Fleet
(as of 31 October 2024)

Registration	Cabin Refit	Re-entered Service*	Current Status
9V-SKM	18 Nov 2020	11 Nov 2021	In Service
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 Maintenance (since Mar 2024)
9V-SKR	23 Dec 2021	19 Jan 2022	In Service
9V-SKS	20 Jun 2019	19 Nov 2021	In Maintenance (since Sep 2024)
9V-SKT	26 Nov 2019	18 Apr 2023	In Service
9V-SKU	From new	4 Nov 2021	In Maintenance (since Oct 2024)
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 grounding

9V-SKQ has now been in maintenance in Singapore for over seven months – a significant downtime for the 13-year-old aircraft.

London Gatwick capacity is unaffected

As you may recall, Singapore Airlines began flying five times weekly Airbus A350 flights to and from London’s second airport Gatwick back in June this year.

While it’s a less popular option for most of our readers, don’t discount it when it comes to award searches.

For the months of February and March 2025, when this Heathrow capacity reduction takes effect, there are still 295 immediately-confirmable Saver Business award seats available to and from London Gatwick at the time of writing – a generous supply that includes up to six seats per flight on some dates.

Here’s how SIA’s Gatwick schedule looks for the northern winter season.

Singapore London Gatwick
27 Oct 2024 – 28 Mar 2025

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	SQ312 A350 LH
SIN 23:55		LGW 06:25*
Duration: 14:30

* Next day

London Gatwick Singapore
27 Oct 2024 – 28 Mar 2025

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	SQ309 A350 LH
LGW 09:20		SIN 06:15*
Duration: 12:55

* Next day

Singapore Airlines recently announced that it would be hiking its London Gatwick flights to daily from the start of the summer 2025 flight schedule in late March 2025.

This will see the carrier operate 40 non-stop dedicated UK services per week in each direction, a record high.

• London Gatwick: 7 departures per week
• London Heathrow: 28 departures per week
• Manchester: 5 departures per week

KrisFlyer award rates

Here’s a reminder of the number of KrisFlyer miles needed for the Singapore – London route.

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

These rates apply to both Heathrow and Gatwick flights.

Singapore Airlines is downgrading one of its two daily Airbus A380 flights between the Lion City and London Heathrow to a Boeing 777-300ER for nearly two whole months in February and March 2025.

If you’re booked in Suites on the affected flights – SQ308 and SQ319 – you’ll now find yourself in the Boeing 777-300ER’s 2013 First Class seat instead.

Thankfully there may be an option to swap across to the remaining A380 flight, provided you’re happy to travel around 12 hours earlier or later than originally planned.

Continued maintenance requirements for the airline’s Airbus A380s appear to be the reason for the temporary downgrade on these key London flights, with up to a third of the fleet apparently set to be out of action early next year.

Let’s hope the airline’s flagship 12-strong superjumbo fleet can operate a bit more consistently on the network from April 2025 onwards.

(Cover Photo: Mike Fuchslocher / Shutterstock)