Singapore Airlines now has an established narrow-body (or single-aisle) aircraft operation, having introduced Boeing 737 aircraft in the form of the Boeing 737-800 back in March 2021 – a temporary measure soon coming to and end – followed by the more permanent Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft in November 2021.

This marked the debut of the latest flat-bed Regional Business Class and upgraded Economy Class seats for the narrow-body fleet, initially launching on flights to and from Phuket. Since then, as the fleet has expanded to 16 aircraft, these products have been progressively rolled out across a wider regional network.

While a total of 37 MAXs were originally set to join in the years ahead, in May 2023 year SIA announced a 20% cut in its total order for the type, meaning only 29 will eventually be delivered.

With the IATA northern summer 2025 schedules now confirmed, it’s a good time to revisit where the MAXs are flying on the network, whether you’re trying to snag an experience with the new cabin products, or you’re simply avoiding the type altogether!

In total, one in five SIA flights (20%) will be operated by a Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft by the end of the upcoming summer timetable season.

Route changes

The 737 MAX network has expanded considerably since inaugural routes to Phuket, Phnom Penh, Kuala Lumpur, Siem Reap and Brunei started in late 2021.

The fleet now flies to 25 destinations, including Busan in South Korea, which clocks in at up to 6 hours 50 minutes of flight time in the winter season, though it’s a shorter 6 hours 30 minutes in the summer months.

Here’s how SIA’s Boeing 737-8 MAX route network looks between now and October 2025.

The MAX has mostly replaced the airline’s older Boeing 737-800s on the network, which have retained the former SilkAir recliner seats in Business Class and lack any Wi-Fi connectivity or in-built entertainment systems, but those are finally leaving the fleet

Schedules

You can expand the schedule boxes below for each of SIA’s confirmed 737-8 MAX destinations, to see which flights the aircraft is operating on, including timings and days of operation through to the end of the northern summer schedule on 25th October 2025.

We have also noted whether there is an alternative to the MAX on these routes, for those wishing to avoid the type.

By late October 2025, SIA will have 220 weekly departures from Changi using the Boeing 737 MAX, out of a total of around 1,100 weekly departures across all fleets, meaning over 20% of the airline’s flights (more than one in five) will be flown by the type.

How to tell if your flight is on the MAX

Aside from the schedule tables above, Singapore Airlines identifies the Boeing 737-8 MAX in its booking engine when you search for a flight or award redemption, either through the website or mobile app.

Simply click ‘More details’ for the flight(s) displayed in the search results to reveal the aircraft type.

Note that a different identification is given for the older Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which are labelled “Boeing 737-800 NG” by SIA.

If you’re using a search tool like ExpertFlyer, you can identify the Boeing 737-8 MAX in the search results by its IATA aircraft type designator “7M8”.

If you’re checking for the Boeing 737-8 MAX on a flight tracking site like FlightRadar24, you may see it referred to by its ICAO aircraft type designator “B38M”.

Most third-party booking sites like Kayak will also clearly show if your flight is operated by the MAX.

The current SIA MAX fleet

The current Singapore Airlines fleet of 16 Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft is as shown in the table below.

Singapore Airlines Boeing 737 MAX Fleet
Registration	Age (Feb 2025)	SIA First Pax Service
9V-MBA	7.4 yrs	28 Nov 2021 (SIN-HKT)
9V-MBB	7.3 yrs	6 Dec 2021 (SIN-PNH)
9V-MBC	7.2 yrs	23 Nov 2021 (SIN-HKT)
9V-MBD	6.8 yrs	17 Dec 2021 (SIN-KUL)
9V-MBE	6.8 yrs	4 Dec 2021 (SIN-HKT)
9V-MBF	6.0 yrs	24 Nov 2021 (SIN-HKT)
9V-MBG	5.9 yrs	1 Feb 2022 (SIN-KUL)
9V-MBH	5.8 yrs	22 Mar 2022 (SIN-KUL)
9V-MBI	5.7 yrs	10 Apr 2022 (SIN-KUL)
9V-MBJ	5.6 yrs	30 Apr 2022 (SIN-KUL)
9V-MBK	5.5 yrs	2 Jun 2022 (SIN-HKT)
9V-MBL	5.4 yrs	25 Apr 2023 (SIN-REP)
9V-MBM	5.2 yrs	20 Nov 2022 (SIN-KUL)
9V-MBN	5.2 yrs	7 Jul 2022 (SIN-KUL)
9V-MBO	2.6 yrs	15 Sep 2022 (SIN-KUL)
9V-MBP	2.3 yrs	22 Dec 2022 (SIN-PNH)

SIA has not received any new Boeing 737-8 MAX deliveries since November 2022.

The airline initially expected to take delivery of two additional MAX aircraft between now and the end of March 2025, though those have now been deferred until at least the following financial year (April 2025 onwards).

New MAX deliveries should continue to coincide with the return of the remaining SIA Boeing 737-800s to leasing companies between now and the end of 2025.

New cabin products

This big advantage when you fly on SIA’s 737 MAX rather than the 737-800 is the latest cabin products, including a flat-bed seat in Business Class, two “throne” seat options, and an upgraded experience in Economy Class including seat-back in-flight entertainment.

Wi-Fi is also available in both cabins (and remember, it’s now an ‘all-you-can-eat’ allowance in Business Class, and even in Economy for KrisFlyer members).

Here’s a to-scale representation of the cabin layout from the excellent aeroLOPA site, clearly showing the extended consoles at the two “throne” seats.

Here are our dedicated articles covering the new cabins, to help you know what to expect on board.

Do bear in mind that on routes with both MAXs and wide-body aircraft operating, like the Boeing 787-10s on Bali and Chennai, you’ll get a better experience in both cabins on the larger aircraft, compared to the 737 MAX.

The differences here include direct aisle access regardless of your seat allocation in Business Class, plus a wider seat, while in Economy Class there’s more legroom and recline, plus AC charging sockets, on the wide-body jets.

These aspects may not make a huge difference on shorter routes, but as the MAXs potentially stretch their legs to even more distant cities in the coming years, the differences will certainly be worth noting where you have a choice on your route.

Don’t confuse the 737 MAX with the 737-800

Singapore Airlines has decided against any further cabin upgrades on its fleet of nine (now four) Boeing 737-800s inherited from SilkAir, which will remain in the fleet until leases on those aircraft expire later this year.

Where you have a choice between the MAX and the -800 on a route, it will therefore be preferable to go for the MAX where possible, especially on longer flights.

That’s because the 737-800s retain 12 recliner seats in Business Class, with little privacy between them, and a more basic Economy Class cabin with no built-in IFE system or Wi-Fi.

Here’s how the Business Class experience stacks up, based on our review in December 2022.

Passengers can stream entertainment content onto their personal device from an onboard server (when it works!), but it’s no match for the full KrisWorld system on the MAXs.

There’s further route potential for the MAX fleet

As we mentioned earlier, SIA’s Boeing 737 MAX fleet will almost double from its current level when all 13 outstanding orders have been delivered over the coming years.

Due to the predominantly short-haul and regional nature of the 737’s operation, somewhere close to a third of all SIA flights may ultimately be operated by the 737-8 MAX, once the fleet is fully delivered and in service.

By then, Singapore Airlines may well be playing to the versatility of the 737-8 MAX, with its 6,500km range allowing it to comfortably serve thinner routes of up to 7 hours, or be deployed seasonally on less busy city pairs in place of wide-body aircraft.

Virgin Australia was recently operating its Boeing 737-8 MAX between Cairns and Tokyo – a non-stop flight of 5,800km, which is around 300km further than Singapore – Mauritius or Singapore – Muscat, so the capability is clearly there.

We wouldn’t be surprised to see cities as far afield as Adelaide and Fukuoka join the roster for the 737-8 MAX as the fleet continues to grow, so watch this space for future route announcements.

The Singapore Airlines Boeing 737-8 MAX will operate more than one in five of the carrier’s departures out of Changi each week by the end of this upcoming summer season, across 25 destinations.

As the MAX fleet expands within Singapore Airlines, it is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid the type (if that’s your strategy), with 13 routes currently seeing exclusively 737-8 MAX operation, including Da Nang, Darwin, Medan and Xiamen.

Ultimately the final fleet of 29 MAX aircraft could see the airline branching out to even longer routes, potentially including cities that formerly saw only wide-body operation, as far afield as Adelaide, or even former SIA destinations like Mauritius.

(Cover Photo: Shutterstock)