Back in February last year, we reported on the welcome news that Cathay Pacific was reinstating its popular daily “fifth freedom” flight between Singapore and Bangkok from 31st March 2024, after a long four-year gap in service due to the pandemic.

The Oneworld carrier then upgraded the aircraft type for the service from the Airbus A330 to the larger Airbus A350, with slightly newer flat-bed seats in Business Class, before it even commenced.

Now there’s a relatively short-notice change of heart from Cathay Pacific for this route, from late next month.

Singapore – Bangkok “fifth freedom” flights ending

Cathay Pacific will cease its flights between Singapore and Bangkok from 30th March 2025, the start of the northern summer scheduling season, with the final service on this route operating the previous day, on 29th March 2025.

“Cathay Pacific’s non-stop flights between Singapore and Bangkok will be suspended from 30 March 2025. We apologise for any inconvenience caused to our customers.

“Cathay Pacific will continue to serve both cities with up to 56 return flights per week between Singapore and Hong Kong, and up to 56 return flights per week between Bangkok and Hong Kong.”

Cathay Pacific

The airline has “fifth freedom” traffic rights on this two-hour intra-Asia hop, which allows it to sell tickets for travel solely between Singapore and Bangkok, with round-trip fares for travel next month from S$269 in Economy Class and S$1,233 in Business Class.

It’s not the cash fares that typically attract our readers to this one though – but redemptions in Business Class from only 16,500 miles each way, with minimal taxes of around S$67 to pay in addition.

Here’s how the schedule looks for these flights between now and their termination.

Singapore Bangkok
Now to 29th March 2025

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	CX630 A350-900
SIN 14:05		BKK 15:55
Duration: 02:50
	CX619 A350-900
BKK 12:45		SIN 16:20
Duration: 02:35

If you have an existing reservation on this route after its end date, Cathay Pacific will be reaching out to provide alternative arrangements for your trip.

This news comes after Middle East carrier Gulf Air ended its own “fifth freedom” Singapore – Bangkok flights back in October 2024, in favour of daily non-stop Bahrain services from both Singapore and Bangkok.

Nonetheless, the Singapore – Bangkok route will continue to be served by the following airlines, after Cathay Pacific ends its services.

• Jetstar Asia (BKK)
• Scoot (BKK)
• Singapore Airlines (BKK)
• Thai AirAsia (DMK)
• Thai Airways (BKK)
• Thai Lion Air (DMK)

Jetstar will increase its Singapore – Bangkok flights from 21 to 29 per week from April 2025 – more than it was flying before the pandemic – while Scoot will expand from 32 to 35 services per week, restoring its pre-COVID frequencies.

With these additions, overall seat capacity on the Singapore – Bangkok route should remain largely unaffected, despite Cathay Pacific’s exit from the market, though it is unfortunate to see another full-service carrier withdrawing from the busy city pair.

A great Business Class redemption option is disappearing

One of the great things about Cathay Pacific’s Singapore – Bangkok “fifth freedom” route was the ability to lock in a long-haul flat-bed Business Class experience for a very competitive 16,500 miles, with minimal taxes of S$67 to pay, via the Qatar Airways Avios programme.

Cathay Pacific
Singapore – Bangkok award rates

FFP	Travel Class
	Economy	Premium	Business
	7,500 + S$84	n/a*	n/a*
	9,000 + S$67	12,500 + S$67	16,500 + S$67
	10,000 + S$104	20,000 + S$104	28,000 + S$104
	12,000 + S$104	21,600 + S$104	30,000 + S$104
	14,000 + S$104	23,700 + S$104	30,000 + S$104
	26,000 + S$104	37,000 + S$104	55,000 + S$104

* Cathay Pacific is currently not offering Premium Economy or Business Class awards to Alaska Mileage Plan members

This represents a significant saving on the 24,000 KrisFlyer miles charged for a Saver Business Class award on board Singapore Airlines, and also allows you to embark on a Oneworld ‘lounge safari’ at Changi Airport prior to departure.

That means accessing not only the excellent Cathay Pacific lounge in Terminal 4, but with some departure days and timings also allows you to check out the Qantas and Qatar Airways options over in Terminal 1 (though the Bangkok departure time was always too early for access to the British Airways lounge).

We comprehensively reviewed Cathay’s great lounge at Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 4 back in late 2017, shortly after it opened.

Hong Kong flights will continue

Cathay Pacific will continue to operate non-stop Singapore – Hong Kong flights up to five times daily during the upcoming northern summer season between April and October 2025, even after this removal of once-daily service via Bangkok.

However, that’s still a significant drop compared to pre-COVID times, when the airline operated up to nine daily flights between Singapore and Hong Kong, one of which was via Bangkok.

Even Singapore Airlines has restored only 67% of weekly seat capacity on its Hong Kong flights compared to 2019, as we outlined in our recent deep dive into the latest list of the carrier’s busiest routes.

This trend underscores weak travel demand between Singapore and Hong Kong, a city that endured some of the world’s strictest travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hong Kong only finally removed the last of its testing requirements for travellers in April 2023, a year after Singapore fully reopened its borders.

Highlighting this sluggish recovery, the Singapore-Hong Kong route even witnessed what must be one of Changi Airport’s shortest-lived passenger services earlier this year, when Greater Bay Airlines discontinued its new non-stop flights after just one month, citing “commercial reasons after considering the latest market situations”.

Qantas Group low-cost carrier Jetstar Asia has not made a return to the Hong Kong route post-pandemic, and Cathay-owned HK Express flights were also short-lived, operating between February 2022 and June 2023.

Cathay Pacific has decided to discontinue its longstanding Singapore – Bangkok “fifth freedom” flights from 30th March 2025, which has been a great full-service option on this busy route for many years, apart from during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The loss of Cathay’s affordable flat-bed Business Class redemption option on this route will certainly be a disappointment for many of our readers.

Indeed this was our go-to redemption for Bangkok trips using Avios points, so it’s really sad to see it dropping off the list of options on the popular city pair.

Meanwhile, the airline will maintain its Singapore – Hong Kong services, though at a reduced frequency compared to pre-pandemic levels, reflecting the slow recovery of travel demand between the two cities we’re also seeing from Singapore Airlines.

(Cover Photo: Shutterstock)