Singapore Airlines to resume flights to 4 more locations next month

SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines (SIA) will resume flights to Dubai, Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, Moscow and Munich from January, the carrier said on Friday (Dec 18).

It will also increase the frequency of its existing flights to several destinations in the United States, Europe and South Africa, starting January.

In a Facebook post, SIA said changes will also be made to flight schedules on its regional wing SilkAir and budget carrier Scoot.

The adjustments are part of a “detailed review" to determine which airlines in the SIA Group portfolio are "best suited to meet evolving customer and cargo demand”, it said.

As a result of the changes, the Group's passenger capacity is expected to reach about 25 per cent of its pre-COVID-19 levels by the end of March next year.

READ: SIA Group reports first half net loss of S$3.5 billion as passenger numbers fall by 98.9% amid COVID-19

READ: Commentary: We must save Singapore Airlines from this existential crisis

SIA Group has been battered by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, due to border restrictions and lockdowns around the world. The group has implemented across-the-board pay cuts and retrenched thousands of employees.

The group last month reported a first-half net loss of S$3.5 billion, amid a “sharp drop” in passenger traffic.

Overall passenger carriage in November was 97.7 per cent down year-on-year, it reported on Tuesday.

The group is looking forward to a "gradual recovery" in passenger operations as countries and regions explore ways to safely reopen borders, with the appropriate protocols in place, it added on Tuesday.

Developments in the production and distribution of vaccines also support "growing optimism" on the potential recovery of air travel, said the group.

Earlier this month, SIA said it would prioritise cargo capacity to transport COVID-19 vaccines when they become available.

READ: SIA scraps 'flight to nowhere' plan, launches limited plane dining service, tours and home food delivery

READ: SIA Group passenger carriage down 97.7% in November as air travel demand remains 'weak'

SOME ROUTES ON SCOOT, SILKAIR SUSPENDED

As part of the review, Scoot’s services to Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Perth will be temporarily suspended, while SIA and SilkAir will increase their frequencies on those routes, said SIA on Friday.

At the same time, SIA and SilkAir will temporarily suspend services to Penang, Surabaya and Taipei, while Scoot will operate to these destinations at higher frequencies.

READ: SIA to restart flights to New York amid 'early signs of optimism' in air travel recovery

Flights originally scheduled for December until March but are not listed in the flight schedules will be cancelled and customers will be informed via SMS and email about the cancellations, SIA said.

Customers on the cancelled flights will retain the full value of the unused portion of their tickets as flight credits, the carrier said. Bonus flight credits will also be awarded when they rebook their flights.

SIA previously added Brunei, Fukuoka, New York and Shenzhen to its network, bringing its total to 36 cities, while SilkAir added Kathmandu to its list of destinations.