Singapore Airlines returns to Hangzhou from June 2026

Singapore Airlines has announced that it will launch daily flights to Hangzhou from 1 June 2026, returning to the Chinese city after an absence of almost three decades.

The airline discontinued service to Hangzhou in November 1998, as part of a series of route cuts brought about by the Asian Financial Crisis. Service was later restored in 2014 through SilkAir, before the route was transferred to its budget arm Scoot in October 2015.

Located in China’s Yangtze River Delta, Hangzhou has long been renowned as a leisure destination, with its UNESCO-listed West Lake, Longjing tea plantations and historic temples and pagodas. However, in recent years it’s also emerged as a major business hub, particularly in technology and e-commerce (the Alibaba Group is headquartered here).

“The launch of services to Hangzhou caters to demand from both leisure and business travellers to China. This new daily service deepens our presence in a key market for the SIA Group, and offers customers greater flexibility, connectivity, and choice when travelling between Singapore and China, and the wider region.”

-Dai Hao Yu, SVP Marketing Planning, SIA

SIA’s daily flight will supplement the existing Scoot service, giving travellers a full-service alternative on this route. Seats have already been loaded for commercial and award bookings.

Singapore Airlines returns to Hangzhou

Singapore Airlines service to Hangzhou will commence on 1 June 2026, with the following schedule:

SQ838 departs from Singapore at 5.40 p.m, arriving in Hangzhou at 10.50 p.m. SQ839 departs from Hangzhou at 12.10 a.m the following day, landing in Singapore at 5.10 a.m.

It’s not the most ideal of timings, but I’d much rather take a red-eye flight on Singapore Airlines than Scoot!

Aircraft type

The Hangzhou route will be operated by a two-cabin Airbus A350-900MH, with 303 seats split into:

• 40 Business Class
• 263 Economy Class

This aircraft features the 2018 Regional Business Class seat, which features full-flat beds in a 1-2-1 configuration. The seat is on the narrow side, but it also does not require passengers to get up to flip it into bed mode.

You can read a review of this product below (this flight was on a B787-10, but the seat is largely the same).

Review: Singapore Airlines B787-10 Business Class Seoul to Singapore

How much do KrisFlyer awards cost?

Hangzhou will fall into Zone 4 of the KrisFlyer award chart (a pleasant surprise, given its close proximity to Zone 5’s Shanghai), which means you can expect to pay the following for award redemptions.

Singapore to Hangzhou redemptions (One-way flight on Singapore Air)
	Saver	Advantage
Economy	15,500	33,000
Business	35,500	57,500

Award seats have already been loaded, and given that it’s a newly-launched route, should be plentiful for the next few days at least.

Alternatively, KrisFlyer members can also redeem awards on Scoot, which will cost 6,500 and 12,500 miles for Saver and Advantage awards respectively.

SIA’s China network up to nine destinations

With the restoration of Hangzhou, Singapore Airlines will serve a total of nine destinations in mainland China: 

• Beijing (Capital)
• Beijing (Daxing)
• Chengdu
• Chongqing
• Guangzhou
• Hangzhou
• Shanghai
• Shenzhen
• Xiamen

Scoot will continue to serve 15 destinations in mainland China:

• Changsha
• Fuzhou
• Guangzhou
• Haikou
• Hangzhou
• Kunming
• Nanjing
• Nanning
• Qingdao
• Shantou
• Shenyang
• Tianjin
• Wuhan
• Xi’an
• Zhengzhou

Conclusion

After a 28-year absence (insert your own 28 Years Later joke here), Singapore Airlines has announced a return to Hangzhou from 1 June 2026, with a daily service using the A350-900MH aircraft. 

Hangzhou will become the airline’s ninth destination in mainland China, and will continue to be served by Scoot, giving travellers a choice of budget or full-service. 

Seats have already opened for commercial and award bookings, and now would be the best opportunity for snagging cheaper fares or Saver awards.