Singapore Airlines has announced that it will be resuming its fifth freedom flights to the USA from November 2021, with Frankfurt to New York and Hong Kong to San Francisco added back to the roster.
From 1 November 2021, Singapore Airlines will restore flight service between Frankfurt and New York. In addition, SIA will resume its service between Hong Kong and San Francisco from 2 November 2021.ย For flight schedules, please referย here.
These fifth freedom flights (which allow airlines to carry passengers between two points outside the airlinesโ home country) join the existing ones between Copenhagen and Rome, and Taipei and Los Angeles.
Frankfurt to New York and Hong Kong to San Francisco were axed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and itโs quite exciting to see them return.
Frankfurt to New York
Earlier this month, the USA announced that it will be reopening borders to fully-vaccinated travellers from November. This replaces existing ban on travel to the US from certain regions including Europe. Consequently, thereโs been a spike in demand for flights between Europe and the USA and SIA is no doubt looking to capitalise on that.
To that end, daily service will restart between Frankfurt and New York on SQ25/26, effective 1 November 2021. Hereโs what the schedule looks like:
| ย | Days | ||||||||
 SQ26B777-300ER |
S | M | T | W | T | F | S | ||
| SINย 2355 |
โ | FRA 0620 (+1) |
โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ |
| FRA 0820 |
โ | JFK 1215 |
โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ |
| SQ25 B777-300ER |
S | M | T | W | T | F | S | ||
| JFK 2115 |
โ | FRA 0950 (+1) |
โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ |
| FRA 1140 |
โ | SIN 0650 (+1) |
โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ | โ |
While SQ25/26 was synonymous with the A380 before COVID-19, Singapore Airlines has yet to return this aircraft type to service. The flights will therefore be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER (B77W), a 264-passenger aircraft with First (review), Business (review), Premium Economy and Economy Class cabins.
SQ25/26 will operate in addition to the existing daily service between Singapore and New York on SQ23/24, which uses two-class Airbus A350-900 ULRs.
Hong Kong to San Francisco
Singapore Airlines will also be resuming its Hong Kong to San Francisco flight, with thrice-weekly service starting from 2 November 2021.ย
| ย | Days | ||||||||
| SQ8 B777-300ER |
S | M | T | W | T | F | S | ||
| SINย 0825 |
โ | HKG 1225 |
ย | ย | โ | ย | โ | ย | โ |
| HKG 1340 |
โ | SFO 1040 |
ย | ย | โ | ย | โ | ย | โ |
| SQ7 B777-300ER |
S | M | T | W | T | F | S | ||
| SFO 1300 |
โ | HKG 1900 (+1) |
ย | ย | โ | ย | โ | ย | โ |
| HKG 2040 |
โ | SIN 0040 (+1) |
โ | ย | ย | โ | ย | โ | ย |
Interestingly enough, the traditional SQ1/2 flight number wonโt be used for this; instead itโs SQ7/8.
This flight will be operated by a B77W as well, and is in addition to the existing daily non-stop flight from Singapore to San Francisco.ย
How much are awards?
Neither cash nor award availability has been loaded into the system yet, but when it is, hereโs how much itโll cost to redeem KrisFlyer awards on these fifth freedom routes.
With only four seats available in First Class, itโs going to be tough snagging an award, never mind at the Saver level. However, thatโs not unique to this particular route- until the A380s return to service, the B77W is SIAโs only aircraft with First Class.
Frankfurt to New York
 One Way Frankfurt to New York (and vv.) |
||
| ย | Saver | Advantage |
| Economy | 22,500 | 40,000 |
| Premium Economy | 47,000 | N/A |
| Business | 72,000 | 85,000 |
| First | 86,000 | 140,000 |
If you’re starting/ending your journey in Singapore, refer to the chart below.
| One Way Singapore to New York (and vv.) |
||
| ย | Saver | Advantage |
| Economy | 40,000 | 75,000 |
| Premium Economy | 73,000 | N/A |
| Business | 99,000 | 140,000 |
| First | 132,000 | 237,000 |
Hong Kong to San Francisco
| One Way Hong Kong to San Francisco (and vv.) |
||
| ย | Saver | Advantage |
| Economy | 33,000 | 60,000 |
| Premium Economy | 63,000 | N/A |
| Business | 89,000 | 115,000 |
| First | 104,000 | 172,000 |
If you’re starting/ending your journey in Singapore, refer to the chart below.
| One Way Singapore to San Francisco (and vv.) |
||
| ย | Saver | Advantage |
| Economy | 38,000 | 70,000 |
| Premium Economy | 68,000 | N/A |
| Business | 95,000 | 125,000 |
| First | 130,000 | 222,000 |
Conclusion
Even if Singaporeโs borders havenโt fully reopened, SIA is looking to take advantage of developments elsewhere in the world. The reopening of the USA to European travellers is certainly a big one, and I can think of many people who would rather fly SIA from Frankfurt to New York than the alternatives.
Another transatlantic route that existed pre-COVID was Manchester to Houston, so itโll be interesting to see if that one gets restored soon.
Those travelling out of Singapore stand to benefit too, in the form of additional scheduling options to San Francisco or New York (albeit with one stop).
As usual, doesnt apply to us… ex-sin still need to SHN on return
True, but good for our Sia staff. Anything that gives them more opportunities to earn and support their families can’t be a bad thing!
Still no A380. What happens to the guys that managed to score first saver in Dec?
While SIA markets Suites as a class above First, you won’t get any compensation if the aircraft is downgauged from an a380 to a b77w.
That’s very confusing. We were booked to fly JFK-FRA-SIN on SQ in late Dec, with a stopover in FRA, and SQ messaged us two weeks or so ago to tell us that the flight JFK-FRA had been cancelled. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, they agreed to rebook us on the LH flight JFK-FRA instead (Acceptable, but the hard product is not nearly as nice as SQ’s, especially as LH recently changed the a/c from a 748 to a 343. Now SQ announce that the route is back from November. What gives?!?
I suppose the customer service team was advising you based on the best available information they had at the time. SIA only just released their new schedule which includes these fifth freedom flights. I’m sure that’s no consolation in your case, but yeah.
Of course, back when SQ decided to cancel their flight, their CS team obviously could not know that management would reinstate the same flights a few weeks later; and I am very happy that they did rebook us on the nonstop LH flight JFK-FRA, instead of the alternative JFK-SIN-FRA that SQ’s CS team had tried to convince me of at first.
Anyway, I called in yesterday, and SQ agreed to rebook me on SQ25 again, which is most likely a win-win situation for both SQ and my family. All good now!