Back in August 2024, Singapore Airlines announced that it would be among the first international carriers to operate from the new Western Sydney International Airport from late 2026, adopting a dual-airport strategy for its passenger flights to and from Australia’s biggest city.
Located some 44km west of the city in Badgerys Creek, it’s the first major airport built in Australia for the last 50 years, and while its location doesn’t shout convenience for those heading to or from the CBD, there’s one main reason SIA has been keen to launch flights early.
That’s due to noise curfews at Sydney’s existing airport, which currently prevent the carrier from operating a lucrative midnight departure timing to its main Singapore hub.
Western Sydney Airport will be SIA’s eighth destination in Australia, with the carrier also serving Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney (Kingsford Smith).
The schedule
As we predicted back in August 2024, SIA is using the opportunity of a curfew-free option from Sydney to operate a midnight departure from the city, following a late morning service from Singapore that lands in the evening.
(Photo: Plane’s Portrait Aviation Media / Malcolm Lu)
SQ201/202 will be the new flight pair, operated by the carrier’s two-class Airbus A350 Medium Haul aircraft with 40 seats in Business Class and 263 seats in Economy Class.
Here’s how the schedule looks for the northern winter 2026/27 season.
Singapore Western Sydney
23 Nov 2026 – 27 Mar 2027
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
 |
SQ201 A350 MH |
||||||||
| SIN 11:30 |
WSI 22:20 |
||||||||
| Duration: 07:50 | |||||||||
Western Sydney Singapore
23 Nov 2026 – 27 Mar 2027
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
|
SQ202 A350 MH |
||||||||
| WSI 23:55 |
SIN 05:05* |
||||||||
| Duration: 08:10 | |||||||||
* Next day
For summer 2027, some slight timing adjustments take effect.
Singapore Western Sydney
28 Mar 2027 – 30 Oct 2027
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
|
SQ201 A350 MH |
||||||||
| SIN 11:35 |
WSI 22:15 |
||||||||
| Duration: 07:40 | |||||||||
Western Sydney Singapore
28 Mar 2027 – 30 Oct 2027
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
|
SQ202 A350 MH |
||||||||
| WSI 23:55 |
SIN 05:15* |
||||||||
| Duration: 08:20 | |||||||||
* Next day
“Singapore Airlines’ services to Australia’s newest gateway at Western Sydney will deliver more choice and strengthen connectivity to this popular destination for our customers. Western Sydney’s late-night departure capacity will enable a seamless travel journey and connections through Singapore Changi Airport, to more than 130 global destinations served by the SIA Group.”
Dai Haoyu, SVP Marketing Planning, Singapore Airlines
Flights are “subject to regulatory approvals” – but then, they always are.
However, in this rare case the airport itself still needs regulatory approvals too! It is still not a licensed commercial aerodrome, but that will inevitably follow by due process, plus domestic flights will start first – in October 2026 – ahead of SIA’s international launch.
“Western Sydney International Airport is thrilled to be partnering with Singapore Airlines, bringing more of its Skytrax certified 5-Star service to the people of Greater Sydney. Our 24-hour capacity, coupled with Singapore Airlines’ extensive global connectivity, will open our city to the world in new and exciting ways. From Sydney to Singapore and beyond, we are pleased to help herald this new era of aviation that will ultimately give Australian travellers more choice and flexibility on when, where, and how they choose to fly. “
Simon Hickey, CEO, Western Sydney Airport
(Image: Western Sydney Airport)
As of December 2025, Sydney was SIA’s 8th busiest route in terms of seat capacity and 12th busiest in terms of flight frequencies, falling behind Melbourne on the latter metric for the first time in years, so these new services will help redress that balance.
KrisFlyer awards
Here are the latest one-way KrisFlyer award rates you’ll pay for the Singapore – Sydney route, including for flights to and from the new Western Sydney Airport.
| KrisFlyer Redemption Rates One-Way Singapore ⇄ Sydney |
||||
| Airline / Cabin | Saver | Advantage | Access | |
 |
Economy Class |
29,000 |
60,500 |
78,500 |
|
Premium Economy |
53,500 |
n/a |
69,500 to 85,500 |
|
Business Class |
72,000 |
103,500 |
129,500 to 207,000 |
|
First Class |
98,000 |
178,500 |
321,500 |
While neither Premium Economy nor First Class / Suites will be available on these new flights, those rates are shown for future reference in the event that SIA upgrades the aircraft used on this route in future.
Both cash tickets and award seats on this route will be loaded from 10am Singapore Time on 25th March 2026, so be on the lookout for a Saver redemption, with generous availability expected from the get-go.
Dual-airport strategy
When Singapore Airlines’ WSI flights do commence, Sydney won’t be the only airport where the carrier adopts a dual-airport strategy for its passenger flights.
This also applies in the following cities:
- Beijing (Capital and Daxing)
- London (Gatwick and Heathrow)
- New York (JFK and Newark)
- Tokyo (Haneda and Narita)
Singapore Airlines will continue to offer four daily flights to and from Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport, including two Airbus A380 services, even after these WSI flights start.
(Photo: Singapore Airlines)
2018 Regional Business Class
SIA will operate the A350 Medium Haul to and from Western Sydney Airport, which features the airline’s 2018 Regional Business Class (2018 RJ) product. This offers a staggered 1-2-1 configuration with direct aisle access from every seat, though the seats are narrower than SIA’s long-haul Business Class offerings.
(Photo: MainlyMiles)
With a flight time of around eight hours, WSI is up there with the longest routes using this particular seat type in Business Class, along with Brisbane and the airline’s upcoming Riyadh service.
Which lounge?
The good news is that WSI’s terminal has been designed with around 4,000 square metres of lounge space in the departures area – presumably shared between domestic and international lounges – so there will be no shortage of room for operators to set up shop.
That said, don’t expect a dedicated SilverKris Lounge at WSI from day one. With Singapore Airlines operating just a single daily service from the airport initially, it would be hard to justify the investment in a standalone lounge at this stage.
Instead, we’d expect Singapore Airlines to contract a third-party lounge provider to look after eligible passengers, including those travelling in Business Class, PPS Club members, and KrisFlyer Elite Gold members.
(Photo: FDC Construction)
The airline hasn’t yet confirmed which lounge it will use at WSI, but a third-party Plaza Premium-esque option would be the obvious candidate. That lounge operator is already a familiar presence in the international departures areas of many Australian airports including Perth, Brisbane, Sydney (Kingsford Smith) and Melbourne.
We’ll provide an update once Singapore Airlines confirms its lounge arrangements at Western Sydney International.
Transport links
Despite being located some 44km west of the Sydney CBD, WSI won’t be without transport links.
The new toll-free M12 motorway, a 16km dual-carriageway connecting The Northern Road at Luddenham to the M7, is due to open ahead of the airport and will provide the primary road access route.
Nonetheless, journey times to and from Sydney’s CBD by car will be around 50 minutes at best, easily stretching to over an hour at peak times.
(Image: Google Maps / MainlyMiles)
The bigger transport play is the $11 billion Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport line, a 23km dedicated rail link running from St Marys station (where it connects to the existing T1 Western Line) through to Bradfield via the airport terminal itself.
It will feature 12 automated driverless Siemens Inspiro trains with wider aisles to accommodate luggage, and will include digital flight information displays, while the airport terminal station will have 10-metre-wide platforms, the largest on the entire Sydney Metro network.
However, that metro line won’t be ready when the first Singapore Airlines flights take off.
Originally planned to open alongside the airport in late 2026, the project has been hit by delays linked to a dispute with the Parklife Metro consortium, and is now not expected to carry passengers until at least April 2027.
In the interim, the NSW government has announced free bus services connecting the airport to St Marys and the wider rail network from day one of operations, alongside express routes from Penrith, Liverpool and Campbelltown.
Passengers heading into the city centre will face a journey involving either a drive along the M4 or M7 corridors, or, once the metro opens, a metro ride to St Marys followed by a transfer onto the T1 line, with no direct train service to Central or the CBD currently planned.
Admittedly this arrangement is quite a messy start for a brand new clean-sheet airport, but it’s worth remembering that WSI will still be a far more convenient gateway for the millions of residents across Western Sydney suburbs, rather than a handy additional option for those travelling to and from the CBD.
Blue Mountains proximity
One genuine upside to WSI’s western location is its proximity to the Blue Mountains, just 7km away.
For the significant number of visitors heading to one of Australia’s most popular natural attractions, WSI will be dramatically closer than Kingsford Smith, which sits 50km to the east.
(Photo: Jaques Bopp)
If you’re staying in the mountains rather than the CBD, WSI is the obviously better airport, and it removes the need to fight through Sydney traffic entirely, though the 10.20pm arrival of SQ201 probably isn’t ideal on the first day of your trip.
Nonetheless if you’re starting your trip in the Sydney CBD, then heading out to the Blue Mountains, flying into Kingsford Smith but back to Singapore from WSI on the SQ202 11.55pm departure might be the perfect combination.
Melbourne gets the A380 back
SIA’s expansion to Western Sydney Airport isn’t the only recent Aussie route news for the carrier.
A few days ago, the airline confirmed that amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East it would be shifting its proposed Dubai A380 service across to Melbourne at short notice, with the Victorian capital due to receive daily superjumbo service for the first time in almost three years.
While Melbourne was clearly an afterthought here, or at best a “second preference” to the UAE hub, it will be great to see three of the carriers A380s operating to and from Australia each day for the next seven months.
Summary
Singapore Airlines will launch daily nonstop flights between Singapore and the new Western Sydney International Airport from 23rd November 2026, using a two-class Airbus A350 Medium Haul with 40 Business and 263 Economy seats.
Flight SQ201 departs Singapore at 11:30 and arrives at 22:20, with the return SQ202 departing at 23:55, taking advantage of WSI’s curfew-free operations for ideal connectivity through Changi.
This brings SIA’s total Sydney capacity to five daily flights alongside its existing four services to Kingsford Smith, and expands its Australian network to eight destinations.
Tickets, including award redemptions, go on sale from 10am SGT, 25th March 2026, so log on then for plentiful Saver award opportunities.
(Cover Photo: Trevor Mein)
“not expected to carry passengers until at least April 2027”
Unsure if you follow NSW govt record on meeting deadlines on transport projects? I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for this to happen.