This is a really good month for the Airbus A380, the most comfortable jet in the sky. We’ve recently learned that British Airways, Qatar Airways, and Singapore Airlines, will all put their A380s back into service. There’s a cool update regarding Singapore Airlines bringing back the A380, as the airline will initially operate the world’s shortest A380 flight for crew familiarization purposes.
In this post:
Singapore Airlines A380 will fly to London as of November 2021
Singapore Airlines first grounded the Airbus A380 in March 2020, around the time that global travel came to a screeching halt due to the coronavirus pandemic. After being grounded for around 20 months, the plane will finally return to service.
As of November 18, 2021, Singapore Airlines will begin flying the Airbus A380 daily between Singapore and London. Specifically, the Airbus A380 will operate the following frequency:
SQ322 Singapore to London departing 11:45PM arriving 5:55AM (+1 day)
SQ317 London to Singapore departing 10:55AM arriving 7:50AM (+1 day)
While the A380 shows as being in the schedule on some other long haul routes in the future as well, for now this is the only flight that the airline has officially confirmed will receive the A380.
Singapore Airlines’ A380s feature a total of 471 seats, including six Suites, 78 business class seats, 44 premium economy seats, and 343 economy seats. For context, pre-pandemic Singapore Airlines had a total of 19 Airbus A380s. The airline announced in late 2020 that it would retire seven A380s, meaning the carrier will have a dozen A380s in the long run.
The A380 will operate the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) flight
Singapore Airlines restoring service with the A380 coincides with Singapore reopening to vaccinated travelers as part of the “Vaccinated Travel Lane” (VTL) concept. With this, vaccinated people in select countries can travel to & from Singapore without the need to quarantine.
Rather travelers just need to get tested, and on top of that need to take a dedicated VTL flight (which is exclusively for people traveling as part of this arrangement). Personally I’m kind of surprised that there’s sufficient demand to fill an A380 as part of this arrangement:
- I suspect Singaporeans are anxious to travel after not being able to do so all this time, but is London in winter really the place they want to go?
- I guess Brits may want to escape the cold and go somewhere warm like Singapore, but personally I also couldn’t imagine exclusively traveling to Singapore from the other side of the globe, without adding on another destination
I’m sure it’ll work out and that booking numbers justify the A380 on this route, I just wouldn’t have necessarily expected this, and am a bit caught off guard by it.
Singapore Airlines will operate 184-mile A380 flight
Ahead of the Singapore Airlines A380 properly being returned to long haul service, Singapore Airlines will first fly the A380 between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Based on the current schedule, between November 4 and December 3, 2021, the jet will operate the short 184-mile flight between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur once daily.
This is a route that Singapore Airlines otherwise operates with the Boeing 737 (a former SilkAir plane), so suffice to say that’s quite a product upgrade for passengers. Singapore Airlines is only selling business class and economy class on the plane, while Suites and premium economy aren’t being sold. It remains to be seen if passengers can be seated there the day of, or if the cabins will just be kept totally empty.
This is a ridiculously short flight that’s blocked at just one hour, and typically has a flight time closer to 30 minutes. So why would Singapore Airlines operate such a big plane on the route? Well, for crew familiarization purposes. Crews once again need to get certified on the A380, and this short flight is the easiest way for the airline to accomplish this.
It’s similar to how we’re seeing British Airways fly the A380 from London to both Frankfurt and Madrid in the coming weeks, ahead of the plane commencing long haul services.
Unfortunately there aren’t many opportunities for avgeeks to fly Singapore Airlines’ A380 on such a short flight, given the continued travel restrictions that exist between Singapore and Malaysia, especially for those from outside the countries. But for those who would fly the route anyway, what a treat.
Bottom line
Singapore Airlines’ Airbus A380s will be making a comeback as of November 2021. The whale jet will initially fly daily between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur for crew familiarization purposes, before flying daily between Singapore and London. There are no further updates about when all 12 A380s will be flying again, and what other destinations we could see for the plane in the near future. Singapore Airlines sure is ramping up operations again, which is fantastic to see.
As an aviation enthusiast I sure am thrilled to see three airlines bringing back the A380 before the end of the year.
What do you make of the return of Singapore Airlines’ A380?
Now we just need Etihad A380 back!!!
I cant wait to get on this flight and I know plenty of folks from the UK ready to head to Singapore. I’d be surprised if these flights aren’t at 100% for the next 6 months
Before Covid, SIA used to fly A350 once or even more a day to KUL.
Hopefully, we will see them in JFK in early 2022 !
They are on the schedule.
Singapore A380s are already running out of heathrow and Frankfurt ,have been since early may so that information is really out of date
I am sure many many tourists will be interested to fly to Thailand with SIA which is opening up in November
Every time I see the photo of the suites on this aircraft, I’m thinking they look like outhouses on a plane. I’m sure they’re nice on the inside but …
Can’t wait to fly Singapore Airlines for the first time someday, which will probably be in premium economy on their A350-900ULR. Whether you talk about their onboard product, their route network, their fleet rationalization, their livery, or how they’re run in general, they just seem to get everything right. Goh Choon Phong seems like such a bright CEO. And it’s great how they have been doing these renovations to keep their A380 product current, unlike...
Can’t wait to fly Singapore Airlines for the first time someday, which will probably be in premium economy on their A350-900ULR. Whether you talk about their onboard product, their route network, their fleet rationalization, their livery, or how they’re run in general, they just seem to get everything right. Goh Choon Phong seems like such a bright CEO. And it’s great how they have been doing these renovations to keep their A380 product current, unlike some European airlines that opted to retire all of them instead. Looking forward to seeing their A380 return to the States.
I wonder with Australia where I am starting to reopen if they are expecting some fully vaccinated connecting traffic from Australia which if allowed would certainly help fill an A380. Singapore Airlines have always been a popular choice with Australians on the UK route.
These flights will be full of Australians who have been stranded in London and Europe. Australia (Sydney and state of NSW at this stage) has announced reopening from November 1st - no more hotel quarantine.
I know next to nothing but did comment last month that it seemed strange that all these a380s are parked until 2025 etc.... When travel could easily pick up pretty quickly once governments press go...
Most will probably do Singapore as the first stop and then continue onto Thailand or Bali and then fly back to Europe via Singapore without stopping over on the way back
Yes that is now an option (though having to quarantine awaiting your arrival PCR result in Singapore is a bit of a killer for a short stopover) Bali doesn't seem to be an option yet (5 day quarantine and UK not on the list I saw today) and anyway it's pretty wet there around December/Jan time but Thailand by the end of the year sounds like it'll be pretty operational. SQ have the A350 on some Phuket flights so they must be expecting good demand
Lucky, how do you know Singapore will be flying the "new" A380 first class, as opposed to the "old" with the double bed in the middle?
Aside from the A380 sporting the newest configurations (ver3), SQ has retrofitted a couple of their ver2 A380s. There are no ver1 or ver2 A380s flying for SQ.
Aside from the A380 sporting the newest configurations (ver3), SQ has retrofitted a couple of their ver2 A380s. There are no ver1 or ver2 A380s flying for SQ.
Singaporeans are so hard up for travel Singapore Airlines website crashed the day they announced VTLs
And why not London in the winter! It’s not like it’s known for its beaches
We have a trip planned from the US to the Maldives in January via a SIN stopover. I'm happy to hear that they're opening up a bit but our flight to SIN is booked via JAL (not approved for VTL) and we're not allowed to fly back to SIN from MLE. Looks like the whole trip will have to be cancelled...or we buy tickets that avoid the transit in SIN. We've booked a week at the Marina Sands before going to Male...so disappointed!
You could do it but only if you fly into Singapore on a VTL flight out of the US for your stopover (assuming you are vaccinated etc) and fly back from Male straight through in transit at Changi
I'd keep a very close eye anyway - currently you need pool slots for MBS & there isn't any entertainment, alcohol after 10.30pm etc. so Maldives & say Dubai or somewhere else might be a better plan
Great news indeed, let’s hope the A380 is here for a while yet
The way that one is going well happens a few times from London to Singapore on an A390 to A380!
I just booked my Singaporean partner on the VTL flight from LHR-SIN the day before they switch to the 777. The demand for the VTL flight is sky high as evidenced by much higher price premiums and lack of premium award availability vs. non-VTL flights. Many Singaporeans abroad haven't visited family back home for almost 2 years as the country had imposed protracted quarantine restrictions for all arrivals until the new VTL policy.
Correction. *the day before they switch to the A380
The interesting point is that currently VTL allows a max of 3000 people per day across all destinations. Perhaps this will be revised.
There is a massive demand for travel after being kept in a little tiny heavily restricted space since last year. Aside from brits travelling home there are a lot of students travelling and Singaporeans wanting to go shopping in the UK.
I think this might have more to do with Australia coming back online, with international borders starting to open back up from November/December. There is a lot of pent up demand after 20 months of being closed to the world
.....or Thailand opening up in November
two words: expats + Christmas - 1000s of Brits live in Singapore and haven't seen their family for 2 years or more - huge demand alone from this group over a very concentrated period, these flights have been sold out already especially in premium cabins. I have five friends coming to stay who'll be travelling back on this flight in early Jan.
Then add in plenty of demand from Singaporeans to go just about...
two words: expats + Christmas - 1000s of Brits live in Singapore and haven't seen their family for 2 years or more - huge demand alone from this group over a very concentrated period, these flights have been sold out already especially in premium cabins. I have five friends coming to stay who'll be travelling back on this flight in early Jan.
Then add in plenty of demand from Singaporeans to go just about anywhere after so long being grounded, especially as life in Singapore remains quite restricted still (no nightlife etc). Lastly they will also handle a lot of transit traffic to Eastern Aus (and even NZ based on press reports today) and they can travel on this flight to transit Changi if they meet the VTL requirements as well.
I do not really understand why people wouldn't want to exclusively see Singapore? As being based in Europe, I usually fly to a single destination and only visit that one such as Hong Kong, Los Angeles or Capetown. Not much difference to only see and visit Singapore.
Singapore is a major business destination, always has been, and is reopening to vaccinated travelers so this makes sense and it will see an ever increasing influx of business travel, a lot of which will likely be at the expense of Hong Kong.
You may be in the minority (not to say you're doing it wrong). From what I've seen Brits are reluctant to fly more than 4 hrs ( or 7 to DXB in winter) so a 13 HR journey to a city state without additional beaches to tag on might be a step too far. If not for other plans I'd be considering it.