Singapore Airlines’ low-cost subsidiary Scoot has revealed that it is discontinuing its flights between Changi Airport and Berlin in Germany from late March 2025, having launched the route as its third ever long-haul destination seven years ago, back in June 2018.

The carrier’s withdrawal from this route was quietly announced as a strategic network adjustment “to better match capacity with demand”, as part of a recent launch of new three-times-weekly non-stop flights to Vienna, starting this June.

Berlin is the latest in a series of Boeing 787 routes dropped from Scoot’s network in recent years, following the removal of destinations like Gold Coast, London Gatwick, and Honolulu.

Timeline: Scoot’s Berlin Route (2018 – 2025)

Here’s a timeline of Scoot’s services between Singapore and Berlin over the last seven years.

20th June 2018

• Launch of Singapore – Berlin flights
  Scoot began operating non-stop flights between Singapore and Berlin’s Tegel Airport using Boeing 787s, marking a key expansion as its second port in the European market, after Athens launched a year earlier.

18th March 2020

• COVID-19 suspension
  Flights on Scoot’s Berlin route were suspended, as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global travel.

10th August 2021

• Return to Berlin via Athens
  Scoot resumed Berlin services as an extension of its Singapore – Athens route, leveraging “fifth freedom” traffic rights to also carry passengers solely between Athens and Berlin. This strategy allowed Scoot to tap into a market already open to leisure travellers without quarantine requirements at the time, while much of Asia retained strict border restrictions.
• The reinstated service operated to and from Berlin’s new Brandenburg Airport, for the first time.

1st July 2022

• Reintroduction of non-stop Berlin flights
  Berlin flights were de-linked from Athens, with Scoot resuming dedicated non-stop services to and from Singapore. Flights to Berlin operated three times weekly, while Athens saw its own four weekly non-stop services.

30th October 2023

• Return to Athens – Berlin routing
  Scoot reverted to operating Singapore – Athens – Berlin flights three times weekly, temporarily halting non-stop services to Berlin.

31st March 2024 (planned)

• Delayed restart of non-stop Berlin flights
  Scoot initially planned to reinstate direct Singapore – Berlin flights for the summer 2024 season, but opted to continue operating through Athens instead, an arrangement that continues to this day.

28th March 2025

• Final Berlin service
  Scoot will cease its Berlin services entirely, marking the end of a seven-year operation on this route, apart from the gap during COVID-19.

The schedule

Here’s how Scoot’s flight schedule between Singapore and Berlin (via Athens) will operate between now and the termination of this route in late March 2025.

Scoot
Singapore Berlin
until 28th March 2025

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	TR720 787-8
SIN 00:35		ATH 06:35
Duration: 12:00
	TR720 787-8
ATH 07:50		BER 09:50
Duration: 03:00
	TR721 787-8
BER 11:00		ATH 14:50
Duration: 02:50
	TR721 787-8
ATH 16:05		SIN 08:55*
Duration: 10:50

* Next day

The total travel time from Singapore to Berlin is 16 hours and 15 minutes, or 14 hours and 55 minutes on the return journey, including the stopover in Athens in each direction.

Maintaining Berlin as a “double drop” service, requiring passengers to transit in Athens in both directions for over a year, has likely dampened demand for the route, making its discontinuation unsurprising.

There are plenty of other ways to reach Berlin from Singapore with similar overall trip durations, by transiting in other hubs like Doha, Dubai and Frankfurt, and competitive fares are often available.

No more Scoot intra-Europe “fifth freedom” flights

Scoot’s current routing between Singapore and Berlin, the same one it temporarily deployed immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic, is a rare opportunity to fly intra-Europe on a low-cost wide-body aircraft, popular with travel bloggers and vloggers.

Here’s a video review of the experience from the only passenger in the ScootPlus cabin on one of the Berlin – Athens flights!

If you’re in Europe before the end of March and want to experience the three-hour flight for yourself, Scoot is offering one-way Economy Class fares starting at around S$80 from Athens to Berlin and just S$73 in the opposite direction.

For those seeking the extra space and comfort, ScootPlus fares are available from as low as S$253 and S$261 one-way, respectively.

Singapore loses direct Berlin connections (again)

This development will leave Singapore with no direct flights to or from Berlin.

Despite being Germany’s largest city and capital, Berlin has relatively few long-haul flights compared to Frankfurt and Munich, which are the country’s primary long-haul aviation hubs. Frankfurt, in particular, serves as a major international hub, while Munich also handles a significant number of long-haul flights, especially to Asia and the Americas.

Singapore Airlines started operating passenger flights to and from Berlin once per week on 28th October 1990 – with SQ46 departing from Changi Airport at 9.45pm operating via Dubai – just over three weeks after the reunification of East and West Germany.

Services increased to twice weekly the following year but never subsequently increased further, and SIA pulled out of the Berlin market in March 1999, citing underperformance.

Athens retains Scoot flights

Aside from the upcoming launch of non-stop Vienna flights, the good news is that Scoot will also continue to serve Athens four times per week during the upcoming summer 2025 season, despite the Berlin element of that route now facing the chop.

This will see the timings of the service change, as outlined in the schedule below.

Scoot
Singapore Athens
from 30th March 2025

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	TR720 787-8
SIN 01:30		ATH 08:20
Duration: 11:50
	TR721 787-8
ATH 09:35		SIN 01:50*
Duration: 11:15

* Next day

As you can see, the aircraft operating this service now makes it to Europe and back practically within 24 hours – no mean feat and a very efficient utilisation.

Services operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Athens was Scoot’s first ever long-haul destination back in 2017, so it’s good to see that it will live on, even after these Berlin flights end.

Scoot has announced that it will be ending its services to and from the German capital Berlin later this year, having served the route for seven years, apart from the obvious gap during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sadly this will once again leave the Singapore – Berlin route without any direct flight options from late March 2025, although it’s easy to reach the German capital with a connecting flight on other carriers via the Middle East, or via other European cities like Frankfurt.

Scoot’s Berlin flights have required a stopover in Athens in both directions since October 2023, so an indirect option isn’t a significant hardship compared to the current arrangement, and is perhaps one reason the route is no longer successful enough for the airline.

Meanwhile, Scoot’s exit from Berlin will still mean a steady two-route European presence for the carrier this summer, with expanded operations from Singapore to Athens and a new non-stop route to Vienna on the cards, the latter restoring direct flights on this city pair for the first time in 18 years.

(Cover Photo: Shutterstock)