Passengers stepping aboard any Singapore Airlines flight from Australia will soon be guaranteed a flatbed seat in Business Class. While this is already the norm across many of the carrier’s routes, one final aircraft change in June 2022 sees this true across the airline’s entire Australian network.
Also in the mix: more flights between Singapore and Melbourne, Darwin and Cairns. This comes as the demand for travel winds back up and would-be travellers awake from their pandemic slumber.
Darwin-Singapore gets Singapore Airlines’ flatbed Business Class
Currently, Singapore Airlines’ flights between Darwin and Singapore run aboard Boeing 737-800 jets. These domestic-style planes similarly offer domestic-style reclining seats at the pointy end. But a swap to the newer Boeing 737-8 from 2 June brings Singapore Airlines’ newest Business Class beds along with them.
A cosy 10-seat cabin offers four pairs of seats, plus two solo thrones, in the single-aisle space.
Sure, this route takes less than five hours in each direction, and doesn’t run as an overnight flight. But Singapore is a global aviation hub, serving many connecting passengers. The upgrade, even on a daytime flight, is sure to make the travel experience easier for those transiting travellers. Especially those still living in – or adjusting to – a different time zone.
Since Australia’s borders opened on 1 November last year and as other countries have removed travel restrictions, we have seen continued growth in demand for travel.
– Louis Arul, Singapore Airlines’ Regional Vice President South West Pacific, 29 May 2022
Increasing services to holiday destinations such as Cairns and Darwin in the lead up to peak season, shows that leisure travel is continuing to recover strongly.
We will continue to remain nimble to ensure Australia remains connected with the right aircraft and schedules that will further support and facilitate the continued growth in travel demand, both to and from Australia.
With Singapore Airlines’ flights to Australia’s other ports already offering flatbed Business Class, this change brings that perk to every route across the country. Singapore Airlines currently serves Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Cairns and Darwin.
More Singapore Airlines flights across Australia
Darwin isn’t just getting a new Singapore Airlines plane. It’s also getting more direct flights to Singapore, with its national carrier ramping up departures to five times per week. Return flights run on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Cairns, which already gets the airline’s flatbed-equipped Boeing 737-8, will also climb from three to five flights per week. These services operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in each direction.
Finally, Melbourne travellers get even more choice over the timing of their journey, with a fourth daily service added to the schedule from 1 June. Operated by a ‘medium-haul’ Airbus A350, these planes sport what many travellers refer to as the airline’s ‘regional’ Business Class seats.
They’re still fully-flat, and with direct aisle access for every passenger given the 1-2-1 cabin layout. They’re just not quite as spacious as Singapore Airlines’ ‘long-haul’ Business Class seats, as appear on Melbourne’s daily Boeing 777 flight.
Summing up
With Singapore well and truly open to foreign visitors, it’s not surprising to see flights approaching pre-pandemic frequencies. The ease of visiting The Lion City with no pre-departure testing or quarantine requirements makes travelling to Singapore not just realistic, but super simple.
Having just stepped off a near-full Singapore Airlines flight from Brisbane, it sure is great to see the broader world again. And of course, to witness travel coming back with a vengeance. Two years of border restrictions have certainly brewed some serious pent-up demand, and that demand is starting to boil.
Singapore is open, and the world awaits. It’s time to get back out there!
Chris Chamberlin is visiting Singapore as a guest of Singapore Airlines.
There is unfortunately no differentiation between Egypt Air, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines anymore when it comes to seat comfort. The A350 seats throughout Singapore Airlines are terrible uncomfortable. The seats SQ retired are a gem compared to what I experienced between AU and EU in business class. The only difference within Star Alliance is the SQ still has a exceptional service. Whereby SQ cut the business class service back during the pandemic. For me SQ lost its touch and I don’t see any benefit anymore flying with SQ. The new seats are a shame for the carrier.
Ulrich, can you please explain what’s unpleasant about the SQ A350 business class seats?
We’re just about to book a RTW SQ business fare and were planning on doing a number of sectors in A350s (which are of course much quieter than anything Boeing makes).
@ Ross
I can’t speak from personal experience, but a number of blog reviewers have suggested being careful about choosing your seat in the SQ A350 business class cabin, something about tight footwells.
IIRC the centre rows behind the bulkheads are recommended, since they have a larger footwell volume, thereby making it easier to roll over when trying to sleep.
A quick online search should tease out the details…
@ Ulrich
Whilst respecting your point of view on the A350, those of us living in the far north of the country are indeed delighted that SQ has chosen to put lie flats on their DRW and CNS services in their 737s (noting that the article is about such).
In CNS we can jump on an evening flight in a small uncrowded airport and avoid the need to connect with a southern city and have an easy connection to Europe or arrive at a hotel before midnight local time.
The 737MAX seat may not be up to the standard of the B777 or A380 business class, but that’s a small price to pay for such convenience and connectivity.
There is no other more practical and comfortable and easy way into SE Asia or connecting to Europe, with the loss of Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong Airlines.
PS. Being able to redeem 53,000 Velocity points one way business CNS-SIN and 36,000 points (IIRC) one way business DRW-SIN with minimal co-payments is great value….;)
I flew Singapore Airlines in business class recently, between Australia and Europe, and loved the experience. My only tiny gripe is that the A350 “regional” business class seats are just a little bit narrow. But this is only a small issue compared with Singapore’s outstanding service and great food. Another major plus: I’ve spent lots of time looking for reward seats recently and Singapore Airlines seems to have the best availability of any airline at the moment (as well as the lowest surcharges).
I also recently flew on Qatar, where I really appreciated the “dine on demand” service. If Singapore were to introduce that, it would just about turn an excellent business class experience into a near-perfect one!
High Chris, hope you a good flight, as we are flying Ex BNE soon. Can you advise what lounge access you had in Brisbane, as my research indicates SIN lounge is closed for the 23:50 flight? TIA
Hi Andrew, I did thanks – and managed to get some sleep, which I’d been aiming to do. For SQ246, Singapore Airlines is temporarily using the Plaza Premium Lounge. But I believe from next week, the SilverKris Lounge will open for SQ246 as well. SQ246 has only recently been added back into the schedule, so I think they’re just waiting for the new rostering period to begin on the ground to have the lounge open and ready (and staffed) for the evening.