Singapore Airlines is set to double First Class capacity on its Hong Kong route from the start of September, offering eight First Class seats per day in each direction thanks to a second daily Boeing 777-300ER joining the schedules.
That’s the result of an aircraft swap on one of the airline’s regular services, which sees the Boeing 777-300ER displacing the three-class Airbus A350 Long Haul on SQ894/895 from 1st September 2026, through to the end of the northern summer season on 24th October 2026.
Here’s how it breaks down for First Class on the route:
- Until 31st August 2026: 4 First Class seats per day (1 x 777-300ER)
- 1st September 2026 to 24th October 2026: 8 First Class seats per day (2 x 777-300ER)
(Photo: Plane’s Portrait Aviation Media / Malcolm Lu)
The route’s remaining daily rotations are unaffected, and continue to operate with a mix of regional and long-haul types offering no First Class cabin.
The schedule
The key difference to the carrier’s Hong Kong schedule from 1st September 2026 is the SQ894/895 upgauge from the Airbus A350 Long Haul to the Boeing 777-300ER, on the early afternoon departure from Singapore and the evening service out of Hong Kong.
Singapore Hong Kong
1 Sep 2026 – 24 Oct 2026
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
 |
SQ874 A350 LH |
||||||||
| SIN 07:25 |
HKG 11:20 |
||||||||
| Duration: 03:55 | |||||||||
|
SQ882 A350 MH |
||||||||
| SIN 08:40 |
HKG 12:40 |
||||||||
| Duration: 04:00 | |||||||||
|
SQ892 777-300ER |
||||||||
| SIN 09:50 |
HKG 13:55 |
||||||||
| Duration: 04:05 | |||||||||
|
SQ894 777-300ER |
||||||||
| SIN 13:05 |
HKG 17:05 |
||||||||
| Duration: 04:00 | |||||||||
|
SQ898 A350 MH |
||||||||
| SIN 19:00 |
HKG 23:00 |
||||||||
| Duration: 04:00 | |||||||||
– Current A350 LH flights, upgraded to 777-300ER
Hong Kong Singapore
1 Sep 2026 – 24 Oct 2026
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
|
SQ899 A350 MH |
||||||||
| HKG 09:05 |
SIN 12:55 |
||||||||
| Duration: 03:50 | |||||||||
|
SQ875 A350 LH |
||||||||
| HKG 12:35 |
SIN 16:30 |
||||||||
| Duration: 03:55 | |||||||||
|
SQ883 A350 MH |
||||||||
| HKG 14:25 |
SIN 18:20 |
||||||||
| Duration: 03:55 | |||||||||
|
SQ893 777-300ER |
||||||||
| HKG 15:40 |
SIN 19:25 |
||||||||
| Duration: 03:45 | |||||||||
|
SQ895 777-300ER |
||||||||
| HKG 18:50 |
SIN 22:40 |
||||||||
| Duration: 03:50 | |||||||||
– Current A350 LH flights, upgraded to 777-300ER
SQ894 provides a lunchtime departure option in First Class from Singapore, with arrival in time for dinner in Hong Kong, while in the return direction SQ895 provides a few more hours in Hong Kong before its 6.50pm wheels-up time.
Double the First Class capacity
Currently, First Class between Singapore and Hong Kong on SIA is limited to a single daily flight, the four-seat Boeing 777-300ER cabin on SQ892/893, offering four seats per day in this cabin in each direction.
From 1st September, the addition of a second Boeing 777-300ER on SQ894/895 lifts that to eight First Class seats per day, spread across two of the airline’s daily services on the route.
(Photo: Shutterstock)
Notably, that’s more First Class capacity than Hong Kong saw even at the height of the summer peak. Between 21st June and 25th July 2026, SQ892/893 received a short-term seasonal upgrade to the Airbus A380, which put six Suites per day on the route. Two Boeing 777-300ERs beat that, in capacity at least, and it runs for a longer stretch, at almost two months.
This relatively short-notice addition means there is effectively a full additional cabin’s worth of First Class inventory per day for award hunters to chase, on a route where a Saver award is already one of the more attainable First Class redemptions on the network at 47,500 miles one-way.
Business Class capacity benefits too
The switch from the Airbus A350 Long Haul to the Boeing 777-300ER on SQ894/895 lifts Business Class capacity from 42 to 48 seats and Premium Economy from 24 to 28, useful across all premium cabins rather than just First Class.
Only Economy Class sees a small reduction, from 187 to 184 seats.
Both types have the airline’s 2013 Business Class seat, so there’s no major change in the Business Class product itself here, just more of it.
(Photo: MainlyMiles)
2013 First Class
SIA’s 2013 First Class seat may not live up to ‘Suite standards’, but it remains one of our favourite products and we’ve always really enjoyed our trips in this cabin.
The intimate single-row section has only four seats in a 1-2-1 layout, including a large void behind the middle pair for the cabin crew to pass between the two aisles while remaining out of sight.
(Photo: MainlyMiles)
In mid-2018 we concluded our round-the-world trip in First Class on SQ1 from San Francisco to Singapore via Hong Kong in this excellent cabin, and had the chance to thoroughly review it including both a long-haul and short-haul experience across the two stages of the journey.
If you haven’t tried the product, while we probably don’t recommend parting with Advantage award rates, we don’t think you’d be disappointed if a Saver award comes up, and at a shade under four hours, Hong Kong is one of the shortest sectors on the network where you’ll still get a decent amount of time to enjoy it.
Here’s a more recent review of what you can expect in First Class post-pandemic, though practically all of the COVID restrictions in effect on this Frankfurt to Singapore flight in September 2021 have now been relaxed.
Aside from Suites on the A380, this First Class product is now the only one fitted to Singapore Airlines aircraft, following the retirement of older 2006 First Class seats on the carrier’s (non-ER) Boeing 777-300s.
Award availability
This additional First Class capacity on Hong Kong flights means some dates have instantly-confirmable Saver awards in this cabin during September and October, in both directions on the route, particularly on the newly-upgraded SQ894/895 timings which have only just started selling First Class.
For reference, KrisFlyer award rates in all cabins between Singapore and Hong Kong (one-way) are as follows.
| KrisFlyer Redemption Rates One-Way Singapore ⇄ Hong Kong |
||||
| Airline / Cabin | Saver | Advantage | Access | |
 |
Economy Class |
15,500 |
33,000 |
47,500 |
|
Premium Economy |
28,000 |
n/a |
40,500 to 49,500 |
|
Business Class |
35,500 |
57,500 |
74,500 to 118,500 |
|
First / Suites Class |
47,500 |
84,000 |
156,000 |
Taxes and fees apply in addition to miles and typically total around S$65 from Singapore to Hong Kong and around S$69 in the return direction.
Bear in mind that redemptions made on or after 1st October 2026, for travel on or after 1st January 2027, are also subject to Singapore’s new SAF tax on this route, adding up to S$11.20 to your redemption fees in the ex-Singapore direction.
One of the cheapest ways into The Private Room
Another major side benefit to this additional Hong Kong First Class option is in the ground experience.
At 47,500 miles for a First Class Saver award, Hong Kong is one of the cheapest routes on the entire Singapore Airlines network that unlocks access to The Private Room at Changi, the airline’s most exclusive lounge, open only to those travelling with SIA in First Class or Suites.
(Photo: MainlyMiles)
Jakarta remains the outright cheapest way in, at 32,000 miles, but it comes with a downside. The hop across to Soekarno-Hatta is barely 90 minutes gate to gate, which leaves very little of the on-board experience to actually enjoy once you’re settled in for the flight.
Hong Kong, at a little under four hours, gives you a considerably more complete First Class experience for the extra miles, including a more relaxed meal service, while still unlocking the same lounge.
Remember, The Private Room is available either before departure or after arrival at Changi, or both, when you are travelling in First Class or Suites.
That allows you to bookend a Hong Kong trip with the lounge at both ends on a round-trip First Class award ticket.
(Photo: MainlyMiles)
The keenest travellers may spot something else in the timings too.
SQ892 arrives into Hong Kong at 13:55, and SQ895 departs at 18:50, which from 1st September means a same-day return is possible with both sectors in First Class on the Boeing 777-300ER, and just under five hours on the ground in between.
This allows two visits to The Private Room, in the morning and evening, plus several hours in the First Class section of SIA’s Hong Kong SilverKris lounge in the middle, and around eight hours in the carrier’s First Class cabin, for what might be described as a decadent day of spoiling yourself!
Whether that’s a sensible use of 95,000 miles, of course, is entirely a matter for you to decide.
An early candidate for the new First Class?
Singapore Airlines is introducing an all-new First Class cabin from 2027, which will appear on its incoming Boeing 777-9 fleet as well as on retrofitted Airbus A350 ULR aircraft.
As we reported in May, the programme has already slipped, with the A350 ULR timeline in particular now open-ended, though the 777-9 itself is still expected to arrive with the carrier during 2027.
(Image: Singapore Airlines)
Hong Kong could be an early candidate for the new product when it does arrive. There’s precedent for that with the city featuring among the earliest routes to receive the carrier’s latest 2017 Suites once the new Airbus A380 rollout moved beyond its initial launch service to Sydney.
Hong Kong picked up three times weekly service with those new products on entry into service of the second aircraft in February 2018 (alongside London), then became daily on delivery of the third aircraft in April 2018.
Of course, it’s not yet confirmed that the 777-9 will follow a similar pattern, and its delivery timeline has moved often enough that any date speculation is also premature, but it’s certainly one to watch in 2027.
What about the winter season?
Unfortunately this double daily First Class arrangement for the Hong Kong route is only running until the end of the current summer season.
(Photo: Aero Icarus)
For northern winter 2026/27, Singapore Airlines is provisionally planning to retain five daily Hong Kong services, but only SQ892/893 will offer First Class on the Boeing 777-300ER, as usual. The remaining flights are currently showing a mixture of regional Boeing 787-10s and Airbus A350 Medium Hauls, plus Airbus A350 Long Haul aircraft, none of which have a First Class cabin.
That will take the route back to four First Class seats per day from 25th October 2026.
Unlike some previous seasons, there’s also currently no sign of a temporary Airbus A380 deployment on Hong Kong over the busy Chinese New Year period – currently it doesn’t return until June 2027 for the peak summer.
As always with schedules this far out, that’s subject to change, and it wouldn’t be the first time a superjumbo appeared on the route at short notice, so stay tuned for any news we receive on that front.
It’s still a far cry from the route’s pre-COVID heyday. Based on September 2019 schedules, Singapore Airlines was operating seven daily return flights to Hong Kong, three of which had a First Class or Suites cabin, and one of which (SQ2/1) continued to and from San Francisco on a “fifth freedom” routing – the very service we reviewed in First Class back in 2018.
Summary
Singapore Airlines is doubling First Class capacity between Singapore and Hong Kong from 1st September 2026, with SQ894/895 upgrading from the three-class Airbus A350 Long Haul to the Boeing 777-300ER for the final eight weeks of the northern summer season.
That takes the route to eight First Class seats per day in each direction, double the current level, and even more than the six Suites per day that were on offer during the route’s short A380 stint earlier this summer.
Business Class capacity also rises from 42 to 48 seats and Premium Economy from 24 to 28 on the upgraded rotation, at the cost of three Economy Class seats.
For redemptions, that means a full additional cabin’s worth of First Class inventory per day to chase between 1st September and 24th October, on a route that at 47,500 miles for a Saver award remains one of the most accessible ways to sample both the 2013 First Class cabin and The Private Room at Changi.
Enjoy it while it lasts, though. From 25th October the route reverts to a single daily First Class flight for the winter season, with no A380 services currently on the cards until the peak summer 2027 period.
(Cover Photo: MainlyMiles)
“Whether that’s a sensible use of 95,000 miles, of course, is entirely a matter for you to decide.”
What a leisurely day of travel that would be, should one not be inclined to check out HK at all.