SIA restores A380 to Frankfurt, adds widebodies to Cairns, direct flights to Barcelona and more

Singapore Airlines has announced its schedule for the 2024 Northern Summer Season, which runs from 31 March to 26 October 2024.

Highlights include the restoration of A380 services to Frankfurt, the deployment of widebody A350-900s to Cairns and Male, reinstating direct flights to Barcelona, and increasing flight frequencies to pre-pandemic levels (or more) across multiple destinations including Beijing, Copenhagen, Dubai, Melbourne, Perth, Shanghai, Tokyo-Haneda and Houston.

No doubt the airline is in a bullish mood, having recently posted the highest net profit in its 76-year history, and amidst all this expansion there can only be one pertinent question:

SIA’s Northern Summer Season: Highlights

Singapore Airlines’ 2024 Northern Summer Season announcement is a lengthy document spanning 14 pages, so I’m going to zoom in on the highlights and provide the rest in an appendix.

Here’s what I found the most interesting:

Barcelona: Direct flights restored

SIA will restore direct flights to Barcelona from 2 June 2024 via a twice-weekly service on SQ388/387.  Barcelona is currently served via Milan on SQ378/377, which will be reduced from five-weekly to three-weekly come 4 June 2024. 

Incidentally, the fifth-freedom flight between Milan and Barcelona is one of the more unique routes to try Singapore Airlines Business Class. With a blocked flight time of 1h 40 mins, you won’t get a full meal service (sandwich only), but the full drinks selection is yours to indulge in, and you get a very comfortable seat. It’s probably as good as intra-Europe Business Class gets!

Cairns: SIA widebodies for the first time in 20 years

SIA will deploy an A350-900MH aircraft on the Cairns route from 31 March 2024, marking the first time in more than 20 years that an SIA widebody aircraft has been used on this route. With the increase in capacity, SIA will also cut the frequency to a four-times weekly service, instead of the current five-times.

It’s certainly going to be a comfort upgrade for passengers regardless of cabin, compared to the B737-8 currently deployed on this route. Business Class passengers can look forward to all-aisle access with the 2018 Regional Business Class seat, and Economy Class passengers will enjoy more seat pitch and width. 

Frankfurt: A380 service restored

Frankfurt lost the A380 in May 2023, when SQ26/25 was downgauged to a B777-300ER. While the latter has a First Class cabin, it’s certainly no comparison with Suites!

The good news is that SIA will restore the A380 on the Frankfurt route from 31 March 2024, replacing the A350-900LH on the SQ326/325 service.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean the return of Suites to New York JFK; The SQ26/25 route will still be operated by a B777-300ER.

With Tokyo-Narita losing the A380 from 31 March 2024, this suggests that 9V-SKP, the 12th and final A380 to be refit to the latest cabin products, will return for the Northern Summer season to enable a daily A380 service (thanks @Sean for pointing that out). This aircraft last flew in July 2022, and since then has been in the hangar ever since. 

Male: Upgauging to A350-900MH

SIA will upgauge the seven-times weekly service to Male (SQ432/431) from a B737-8 to an A350-900MH from 31 March 2024, to meet strong demand for air travel. 

That said, I find this a bit odd: isn’t the monsoon season from May to November? I can’t imagine many people would want to travel during this period, so I’m quite certain I’m missing something here.

Tokyo-Haneda: Four daily flights coming

Tokyo remains one of the hardest routes to redeem awards for at the moment, with Japan leisure and business travel back to full swing.

From 1 October 2023, SIA will add a third daily service to Tokyo-Haneda on SQ632/633, with a fourth daily service on SQ630/639 coming from 1 September 2024. This will restore Tokyo-Haneda to four-times daily, the same as pre-pandemic.

Other developments

In addition to the abovementioned destinations, SIA has also announced changes to frequencies to 17 other cities. Details can be found below.

Conclusion

Singapore Airlines has big plans for the Northern Summer season, with services to many destinations returning to or exceeding pre-pandemic levels. Passengers to Frankfurt can also look forward to Suites once more, while those to Cairns and the Maldives will have much more comfortable widebody aircraft instead of the cramped B737-8s. 

I’m slightly surprised we haven’t heard any news about new destinations just yet, with rumours suggesting the airline would restore one of its pre-pandemic European destinations (Brussels, Dusseldorf, Stockholm; yes, I’m aware Brussels never actually happened!), or add non-stop flights to Boston/Chicago (which it was reportedly considering before COVID hit).

Which route announcement has got you the most excited?