Just last week, Singapore Airlines announced a second every day Airbus A380 service to Sydney and a seasonal return of a every day A380 to Melbourne. That has obviously gone down well with travelers at each ends of the flight because yesterday the airline announced additional flights to Australia, including the extension of the Melbourne A380 service to support the height summer season.
This month Singapore Airlines is working 111 weekly services between Singapore and Australia, with flights to seven cities, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Cairns and Darwin.
Photo: Brisbane Airport Corporation
Subject to regulatory approval, Singapore Airlines (SIA) will:
- Add a fifth every day flight to Sydney
- Extend the A380 every day service to Melbourne until November twenty first and add a fifth every day flight
- Add a 4 times weekly service to Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth
Hundreds more seats to Australia
The changes will add almost 7,000 more seats per week between Australia and Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) and might be in place for the height December/January holiday period. They will even give Australians greater options for connecting travel to Europe, which can hopefully put downward pressure on the present overpriced airfares within the Australian market.
Photo: Singapore Airlines
SIA regional vice chairman South West Pacific Louis Arul said the choice to significantly ramp up services over the vacation period is in response to the high demand that is predicted. He added:
“The appetite for travel has been robust over the present mid-year holiday period and signs are that demand will remain elevated as we head into the traditionally strong year-end peak.”
In Melbourne, the recently returned A380 every day service was scheduled to finish at the top of October, but that’s now being prolonged until November twenty first when the A380 might be redeployed to Auckland, Recent Zealand, to satisfy the summer season demand there. Despite the Superjumbo moving across the Tasman Sea, Melbourne Airport (MEL) will retain the fourth every day flight, while SIA can be adding a fifth every day service from November twenty second.
Melburnians can have the alternative of 5 departures throughout the day and night, with flights leaving at 00:35, 07:10, 10:35, 16:40 and 19:25. The A380 might be replaced with an Airbus A350-900, with the fifth service also using SIA’s long-haul A350-900, giving customers the alternative of 42 business class, 24 premium economy and 187 economy class seats.
Photo: DigitalWork.be | Shutterstock
A Boeing 777-300ER will operate the SQ208 service, departing MEL at 19:25 and arriving in Singapore at 00:15 the next day. The return flights to Melbourne will depart SIN at 00:25, 07:45, 11:00, 19:30 and 21:50.
Flights to Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD) will increase from 4 to 5 times every day from December 2nd through the addition of SQ212, an early morning A350-900 departure. The every day services will depart Sydney at 06:45 (777), 09:05 (A350), 12:15 (A380), 16:10 (A380) and 19:10 (A350), with return flights departing SIN at 00:45, 07:05, 10:30, 19:05 and 20:40. With the additional flight SIA will take its operations to Sydney past pre-COVID levels, as they might be in Melbourne.
The prevailing every day services to Adelaide Airport (ADL) might be supplemented by a 4 times weekly flight on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday using a medium-haul A350-900. The every day flight leaves Adelaide at 10:35 with the additional service conveniently timed at 18:35, giving options at each ends of the day.
From December 1st to January thirteenth, 2024, SIA is adding an additional flight (SQ266) on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from Brisbane Airport (BNE). It will add to the three every day flights, with all flights on the route flown by the medium-haul A350-900.
Photo: Steve Worner I Shutterstock.
From November twenty fourth Perth Airport (PER) will even add a four-times weekly flight, with SQ226 operating to Singapore until January 14th, 2024. Customers in Perth can have two aircraft to select from as the present three every day services are operated with Boeing 787s, and the brand new flight is on the medium-haul A350-900.
Perth has a population of around 2.2 million, so having 25 weekly flights to Singapore, with seamless connections to greater than 110 SIA destinations worldwide, is a robust sign of the airline’s faith in that market.
The extra flights are already on sale and potentially end the talk of recovery or comparison to pre-COVID levels in Australia. Australians are thirsty for overseas travel, particularly at prices they’ll afford, and the numerous extra capability Singapore Airlines is offering across the country will feed into that demand.
What do you think that of SIA’s expansion in Australia? Tell us within the comments.