One of the major advances in connectivity technology on modern aircraft these days is the ability not only to stay in touch with the ground during your flight and surf the internet, but with higher bandwidth connections now available it’s also the option to watch live TV coverage during your journey.

Airlines like Turkish, Emirates, and many US carriers have been offering live TV to passengers for years – Turkish Airlines since 2011 and Emirates since 2013 for example. Singapore Airlines, however, was relatively late to the game, only commencing a trial of the service on its Airbus A350 ULR aircraft back in mid-2021.

The good news is SIA’s Live TV Service is now a permanent fixture, meaning you can catch many live sporting events or tune into streaming news channels even from 36,000ft, while en-route to your destination.

One downside to the service, a bit like the airline’s Wi-Fi offering, is that it isn’t fleet-wide. You’ll have to be travelling on a Live TV-equipped aircraft in order to tune in.

Which aircraft have Live TV?

Only aircraft fitted with the Panasonic connectivity system currently offer Live TV on Singapore Airlines aircraft, which means the fleet is equipped as outlined below.

Singapore Airlines Live TV Capability
Aircraft Type	Live TV?	Total in Fleet
A350 Long Haul		34
A350 Medium Haul		24
A350 ULR		7
A380		12
737-800		5
737-8 MAX		16
777-300ER (9V-SWB to 9V-SWT)		14
777-300ER (9V-SWU to -SWZ, 9V-SNA to -SNC)		8
787-10		26

As you can see, only Airbus A350 Long Haul, Airbus A350 ULR, Boeing 737-8 MAX and Boeing 787-10 aircraft guarantee Live TV on board.

As far as the Boeing 777-300ER fleet is concerned, only the eight newest aircraft comprising 9V-SWU onwards (including 9V-SNA to -SNC) have the Panasonic connectivity system, and therefore do feature Live TV.

The 14 older Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in the fleet (9V-SWB to -SWT) do not have Live TV.

Overall, 91 SIA aircraft in the 146-strong passenger fleet (62%) offer Live TV on board, as of December 2024.

Which routes?

You can refer to our full list of Singapore Airlines flights by Business Class cabin product here to determine whether your flight will have Live TV on board, since that list includes also shows the specific aircraft type and variant used, flight number by flight number, which you can cross-reference from the table above.

Nonetheless, we’ve crunched the schedules already to summarise which routes currently do and don’t have Live TV, based on the airline’s flights though to late March 2025.

Here are the Singapore Airlines routes where all flights have Live TV on board:

Here are the routes on which only selected flights have Live TV on board, because only some aircraft types flying to these cities guarantee it:

Here are the routes on which no flights have Live TV on board:

What’s on?

The main draw for SIA’s Live TV service is undoubtedly the ability to watch live sporting events while you’re flying.

For that, SIA streams the Sport 24 channel on board, a specific broadcast designed to show sporting events to airline and cruise ship partners.

Sport 24 has the rights to many major sporting events including the UEFA Champions League, Premier League, NFL and Wimbledon – see the full list here.

You can check the schedule for Sport 24 in advance, to check what’s on during your flight.

Do note that the schedule is based on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), but it will display on the website depending on the native time zone of your I.P. address. You can adjust it to any time zone, via a drop-down list.

If it’s live news you’re after as you wing your way to your destination, SIA offers three such channels; BBC News, CNN and CNBC, through its Live TV system.

Wi-Fi is a different matter

Just because Live TV is exclusive to SIA’s Panasonic-fitted aircraft, thankfully the same doesn’t apply to the availability of on-board Wi-Fi connectivity.

This is a fleet-wide feature, with the exception of seven ex-SilkAir Boeing 737-800s, and the airline’s non-Panasonic fleet instead features a GX Aviation Ka-band Wi-Fi system by SITAOnAir.

The latter system actually provides the fastest connection speeds, since the Panasonic one relies on Ku-band technology, which operates at a lower frequency range, meaning a reduced data transfer rate.

Unlimited Wi-Fi is now free for all Suites, First Class and Business Class passengers on SIA, while those in Premium Economy or Economy Class benefit from free Wi-Fi provided they are PPS Club or KrisFlyer members.

Our complete guide to Wi-Fi connectivity on board Singapore Airlines flights explains all the differences across the fleet, alongside the access plans available.

Singapore Airlines in-flight Wi-Fi READ OUR FULL GUIDE

Singapore Airlines in-flight Wi-Fi READ OUR FULL GUIDE

Singapore Airlines was late to the game with a Live TV service as part of its KrisWorld in-flight entertainment system, but thankfully it is now widely rolled out to over 60% of the fleet.

Hopefully this can be extended to aircraft like the Airbus A380, Airbus A350 Medium Haul and older Boeing 777-300ER jets in the future, for a more complete fleet-wide offering.

Of course we’re also expecting this will be an option on factory-fresh Boeing 777-9s, once they finally start to be delivered, though that still looks to be at least a couple of years from now.

In the meantime, do check the route list above to see whether it’s an option on your next flight, bearing in mind that on some routes you’ll have to choose the right flight number based on the aircraft type, in order to benefit.

(Cover Photo: Singapore Airlines)

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