Singapore Airlines will resume regular flights from both Darwin and Cairns to Singapore from the end of March 2022. It brings the number of Australian destinations served by Singapore Airlines to seven.
Singapore Airlines’ former regional subsidiary Silk Air served the Darwin-Singapore and Cairns-Singapore routes prior to COVID-19. Both routes were suspended early into the pandemic.
In the meantime, in January 2021, Silk Air merged with its parent company Singapore Airlines. Most of the Boeing 737s previously operated by Silk Air have now been refreshed and repainted in a Singapore Airlines livery.
Both the Darwin and Cairns flights will be operated by Boeing 737-800 aircraft. These planes are fitted with 12 reclining Business Class seats in a standard 2-2 configuration. (Singapore Airlines’ newer Boeing 737 MAX planes have lie-flat beds in the front of the plane, but these are not being utilised on flights to Australia.)
Although Singapore Airlines has not run regular passenger flights to Darwin or Cairns during the pandemic, it has still been flying to both airports. The airline has operated several DFAT repatriation charter flights from Singapore to Darwin since last November. It has also continued flying to Cairns on a weekly basis throughout the pandemic, using passenger aircraft to carry cargo.
Singapore Airlines schedules to Cairns & Darwin
As already announced earlier this week, Singapore Airlines will resume flights from Singapore to Cairns on 28 March. In the other direction, Cairns-Singapore flights will resume the following day. Flights will run 3x weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The Cairns schedule will be as follows:
- SQ203 Singapore 08:45 – Cairns 17:25
- SQ204 Cairns 18:15 – Singapore 23:00
Flights between Darwin and Singapore just went on sale on the Singapore Airlines website yesterday, and will resume from 29 March 2022. This route will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays with the following timetable:
- SQ251 Singapore 08:30 – Darwin 14:45
- SQ252 Darwin 15:45 – Singapore 19:00
All of these flights connect well with services to andfrom Europe. All Singapore Airlines flights from Darwin and Cairns to Singapore are also designated Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) flights.
Economy Class reward seats are already available to book using Velocity points, including on the inaugural Darwin-Singapore flight. Singapore Airlines is not currently releasing Business Class awards to partner airlines.
Singapore Airlines not returning to Canberra
Once Singapore Airlines restarts its flights to Darwin and Cairns, it will have returned to all of its pre-COVID Australian destinations except for Canberra.
Unfortunately for Canberrans, Singapore Airlines has no plans to return to the national capital in the near future. But last September, Singapore Airlines spokesman Karl Schubert told the AFF on Air podcast that a return to Canberra could still be possible down the track if demand recovers sufficiently.
“It was a very sad day when we had to close down the Canberra station,” Schubert said.
“I think in the first instance, as recovery occurs, sending flights back into Canberra in the near term is probably not something that will be considered. But we never say never.”
“I can’t say that it’s on the radar and I can’t make any firm promises about Canberra, outside of saying that we’ll always keep one eye open to see where we can redeploy capacity to maximise and meet the demand that’s in the market.”
Before COVID-19, Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways operated the only international flights out of Canberra Airport. Qatar Airways has not returned to Canberra yet either.
Singapore Airlines has also dropped its Melbourne-Wellington flights for the foreseeable future.
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