Third time’s the charm, I guess?
Singapore Airlines’ very long Singapore to Manchester flight
Manchester has been dealing with some inclement weather the past couple of days, including heavy snow. So we’ve seen quite a few diversions and cancelations, though nothing ended up being quite as big of a mess as the airport’s longest regularly scheduled flight.
This incident happened on Sunday, January 5, 2025, and involves Singapore Airlines flight SQ52, scheduled to operate from Singapore (SIN) to Manchester (MAN). The flight was operated by a five-year-old Airbus A350-900 with the registration code 9V-SMW.
The 6,810-mile flight is blocked at 14hr25min, scheduled to depart at 2:10AM, and arrive at 8:35AM the same day. So it’s a very long journey, even when things go as planned.
The aircraft took off from Singapore at 2:31AM, and began the very long trek to Manchester. Everything was fine until the plane approached the UK, when the runways in Manchester were closed due to heavy snow.
The plane briefly entered a holding pattern (presumably in hopes of the runways reopening), and then eventually diverted to London Gatwick (LGW), to refuel. The plane touched down there at 9:48AM, after a 15hr17min flight.
The plane refueled, and after the runways at Manchester reopened, the Singapore Airlines A350 was once again headed to its intended destination. The short 175-mile flight should’ve taken well under an hour, but that’s not how things played out.
The plane took off at 11:33AM (1hr45min after landing in London), and within around 30 minutes, the plane was very close to Manchester. But it then entered a holding pattern, as conditions once again deteriorated. The plane stayed in the holding pattern for roughly 45 minutes, before abandoning the plan, and returning to London… again.
The plane touched down in London at 1:51PM, 2hr18min after its departure.
Once back in London, the aircraft was refueled, and the crew waited for conditions to improve. Over four hours later, at 6:11PM, the aircraft finally took off for Manchester. This time around everything went perfectly, and the plane landed there at 6:54PM, after a 43-minute flight.
If my math is correct, the aircraft ultimately touched down in Manchester 24hr23min after it first departed Singapore, so talk about a long journey. This flight is supposed to continue to Houston (IAH), as the Manchester to Houston service is a fifth freedom flight.
In light of what happened, the Manchester to Houston flight ended up being delayed by over 31 hours. So rather than leaving at 10:05AM on Sunday, it left at 6:29PM on Monday. I imagine that relates to crew legality.
What a long day for everyone involved!
Singapore Airlines seemingly handled this situation as well as it could have. When bad weather strikes and runways close, there’s not much any crew can do. Of course it’s frustrating to divert, take off again, and divert again, but obviously the goal was to operate as close to on schedule as possible.
When there are ongoing weather events, there’s always an element of risk in terms of having to divert a second time, and it happens more often than you’d think.
The one thing that I’m curious about is the crewing logistics, given the double diversion. While Singapore Airlines has a large presence in London, all service to Heathrow (LHR) is with A350s and 777s. The airline does have a Gatwick to Singapore flight with an A350, so I can’t help but be curious how exactly this all played out.
Did the pilots of the initial A350 flight from Singapore to Manchester end up working the London to Manchester hop the first time around? What about the second time around? Because even with four pilots upfront, that’s a very long day for them.
I have to imagine that their duty hours were exceeded, so I wonder how exactly this was handled. The Gatwick to Singapore flight for the day would’ve already left by the time the diversion happened, and all those flights have been operating as scheduled. So I’m not even sure how a crew swap could’ve happened?
Bottom line
A Singapore Airlines A350 scheduled to fly from Singapore to Manchester had a rather complicated journey, due to bad weather in the UK. The plane ended up diverting to London twice, only to finally land in Manchester on the third try, after a journey of over 24 hours. I can’t help but be curious about the crewing logistics here, given duty limits for pilots.
What do you make of this complicated Singapore Airlines flight?
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