Singapore Airlines Routes

From the UK, Singapore Airlines main usefulness is to get to Australia, New Zealand, and of course Singapore. Singapore Airlines London LHR to Singapore Changi has three flights a day. There is an A380 at 1155 (or 1055 on clock change months) ariving at 0745. A Boeing 777-300ER at 1830 (arriving 1420), and another London to Singapore A380 at 2205 arriving 1755.

Singapore Airlines has four flights a day to Sydney, using various different aircraft. Which on you take will dramatically impact on your comfort - choose carefully. There is the latest A380 at 2035, arriving at 0555. A Boeing 777-200/200ER at 0925, arriving 1855, and then Boeing 777-300ER for the 0025 (arrive 0955) and 0700 (arriving 1630 the next day).

To get to Sydney from London only 2 connections are useful - the 1155 gives you an hour and a half changeover at 0930 to get to Sydney the next day at 1855. Meanwhile the 2205 gives over 2.5 hours to kill, leaving SIN at 2035, arriving in Sydney at 0555 two days later. It's an "entertaining" experiance in jet lag, and is like a military experiment in sleep deprivation. To get the cheapest tickets sometimes the only way to do it is to get the 1830 from LHR, waste 6 hours in SIN (taking a stopover tour of the city, or just lying by the rooftop pool), and then get the 2035, arriving in SYD at 0555. Avoid at all costs the 2205 from London connecting at 0025 from Singapore: it rolls into Sydney at 10am, after a 7 hour stopover in Singapore.

Singapore 747 at Auckland, New Zealand

Returning from Sydney to Singapore there is the latest A380 at 0805, arriving at 1430. A Boeing 777-200/200ER at 1120, arriving 1740, and then Boeing 777-300ER for the 1515 (arrive 2135) and 1750 (arriving 0010 the next day). However to get back to LHR only the 1515 gives a decent connection in SIN (onto the flight which staggers into LHR at 0530), and is the only one timetabled as such, with a 777 for the first leg, and a A380 onwards from SIN. Every other flight involves a long stopover, or an overnight, in Singapore. Accordingly earlier flights, particularly the 0805, often have more room, and this is the only way to get an A380 all the way. See the hints and tips section on selecting this flight, which often yeilds a much cheaper fare. Alternately you can overnight in SIN and get the early morning flight the next day. As a desperate measure, you can even sleep in the Silver Kris lounge.

From Singapore there are three times a day flights to Melbourne, however the removal of the Airbus A380 from the Singapore to Melbourne route means there is a bit of a rag bag of flights, and business class seats are a lottery. They vary from great, to terrible. There is just one daytime flight, from Singapore to Melbourne leaving at 1010, arriving 2045, on a Boeing 777-300ER which has the same wide, fully flat beds in business class as the A380. They are wasted on the day flight, but then on the return this flight leaves at 0105 and arrives at 0540, and then these seats are wonderful. Of the two SIN-MEL overnight flights, the 0045 departure from Singapore arrives at Melbourne at 1120, using a Boeing 747 which has a decent, if old, flat bed. It returns at 1645, landing at 2120. The dreaded overnight 2115 from Singapore arrives in Melbourne at 0750 the next day, using the Boeing 777-300 which has really quite bad regional business class seats. These only recline a short way, it it's like being in premium economy. Avoid at all costs. At least on the way back this is just a daytime flight leaving at 1100 and arriving at 1535, but its still the worst aircraft to pick. All this means that the difference between the 777-300 and the 777-300ER is vital if you are a frequent passengers in business from Melbourne.

There are flights three times a day to Brisbane (all on A330, in a "regional" 2 class layout with poor Business Class seats) at 0955 (arrive 1930), 2110 (arrive 0645). Occasionally there are extra flights at 0005 (arrive 0925).

Perth gets flights (all on non-spacebed A330-300) at 0930 (arrive 1440) and 1845 (arrive 2355), plus an extra 0120 flight every day except Tues, Weds & Fri). There are daily flights to Adelaide at 2350 (using a A330-300).

To New Zealand there is Auckland daily at 2110 (using a Boeing 777-300ER) and Christchurch on Monday, Friday and Saturday at 1940 (B777-200/200ER).

Up the peninsular there are 6 flights a day to Bangkok, 7 a day to Jakarta, and 8 to Kuala Lumpur (which only takes 50 minutes).

Singapore to New York Route over North Pole

For years, Singapore has served both coasts of the US, through airports in New York (Newark), Los Angeles and San Francisco. But recently, it has also added flights to two interior cities, Chicago and Las Vegas.

Paris CDG Singapore 747

Singapore runs the longest non-stop commercial service in the world from Singapore to New York Direct. This 8,965 nautical mile flight goes directly over the North Pole on its return journey. Leaving Singapore at 1205 it gets into New York (Newark) at 1830 on the same day. On the return journey it leaves New York at 2300, and arrives in Singapore at 0535 two days later, without stopping off en-route (indeed, it would be difficult for it to do so - there are no airports for 4,000 miles of the route over the Arctic), with a flying time of about 18 hours each way. Because of the duration, the flights were not a success in economy, and Singapore Airlines has converted its five Airbus A340-500 aircraft from Business & Premium Economy Class to just a Business Class configuration, with 100 lie flat beds.

There are also direct flights from Singapore to Los Angeles, using a uniquely configured A340-500, with just a business class cabin. The 7,900 nautical mile service from Singapore to Los Angeles takes 16 hours, and the return service from Los Angeles 18½ hours. Takeoff in Singapore is 1600, flying west, landing in LA at exactly the same time, 1600, on the same day. Return takeoff in LA is a 2000, going east and arriving two days later at 0640. The return fare is only a slight increase on the usual fare which includes a stop off.