Singapore Airlines is reducing its London Heathrow flight frequencies by 14% in November, but A380 capacity is retained, including on some SQ318/321 flights.
Singapore Airlines has made some changes to its London Heathrow flight schedule for the first few weeks of the upcoming northern winter schedule season, with a surprise reduction in frequencies on its most financially lucrative route between the Lion City and the UK capital.
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This will see overall service reduce from 28 flights per week to 24 flights, though Airbus A380 service will remain at 14 flights per week.
It could be good news for some passengers booked on selected SQ318/321 flights during this period, who may now find that their aircraft type has been upgauged from the Boeing 777-300ER to the Airbus A380, including the Suites cabin.
The schedule
Singapore Airlines usually operates four daily flights between Changi Airport and London Heathrow Airport, two using the Airbus A380 and two using the Boeing 777-300ER.
However, for the first four weeks of the upcoming northern winter schedule season, covering the 27th October to 23rd November 2024 period, that schedule is being adjusted with an overall decrease in operation from 28 flights per week in each direction to 24 flights per week.
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There are also shuffles in aircraft type allocation on some services, which could be good news for some passengers already booked on SQ318/321 flights, who may now see an upgrade from the Boeing 777-300ER to the Airbus A380.
- SQ308/319 service reduces from 7/wk to 3/wk, using the Airbus A380
- SQ318/321 service upgauges to the Airbus A380 for 3/wk, 4/wk remains on Boeing 777-300ER
Here’s how the revised schedule looks for these services during this period.
Singapore London Heathrow
27 Oct 2024 – 23 Nov 2024
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
 | SQ306 777-300ER | ||||||||
| SIN 01:10 | LHR 07:25 | ||||||||
| Duration: 14:15 | |||||||||
| SQ308 A380 | ||||||||
| SIN 09:00 | LHR 15:35 | ||||||||
| Duration: 14:35 | |||||||||
| SQ318 A380 | ||||||||
| SIN 12:45 | LHR 19:10 | ||||||||
| Duration: 14:25 | |||||||||
| SQ318 777-300ER | ||||||||
| SIN 12:45 | LHR 19:10 | ||||||||
| Duration: 14:25 | |||||||||
| SQ322 A380 | ||||||||
| SIN 23:45 | LHR 05:55* | ||||||||
| Duration: 14:10 | |||||||||
* Next day
London Heathrow Singapore
27 Oct 2024 – 23 Nov 2024
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
| SQ305 777-300ER | ||||||||
| LHR 09:10 | SIN 06:00* | ||||||||
| Duration: 12:50 | |||||||||
| SQ317 A380 | ||||||||
| LHR 10:55 | SIN 07:50* | ||||||||
| Duration: 12:55 | |||||||||
| SQ319 A380 | ||||||||
| LHR 20:35 | SIN 17:30* | ||||||||
| Duration: 12:55 | |||||||||
| SQ321 A380 | ||||||||
| LHR 22:05 | SIN 19:00* | ||||||||
| Duration: 12:55 | |||||||||
| SQ321 777-300ER | ||||||||
| LHR 22:05 | SIN 19:00* | ||||||||
| Duration: 12:55 | |||||||||
* Next day
There will only be three London Heathrow flights on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays during this period, with the removal of SQ308/319 services on those days, though the SQ318/321 flight will then upgauge to the Airbus A380 to compensate.
This should allow those booked on affected SQ308/319 flights to be re-accommodated onto SQ318/321 in the same cabin class with the same product standard (e.g. Suites).
Overall weekly seat capacity on SIA’s London Heathrow route will fall from 10,290 per week to 9,234 per week, a 10% reduction.
Other operators British Airways and Qantas will retain their usual Singapore – London Heathrow schedule, twice daily and once daily respectively, during this period.
Regular schedule from 24th November
From Sunday 24th November 2024, Singapore Airlines will restore its regular flight schedule on the London Heathrow route.
This sees twice daily Airbus A380 service (SQ308/319 and SQ322/317) and twice daily Boeing 777-300ER service (SQ306/305 and SQ318/321), as outlined below.
Singapore London Heathrow
24 Nov 2024 – 29 Mar 2025
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
| SQ306 777-300ER | ||||||||
| SIN 01:10 | LHR 07:25 | ||||||||
| Duration: 14:15 | |||||||||
| SQ308 A380 | ||||||||
| SIN 09:00 | LHR 15:35 | ||||||||
| Duration: 14:35 | |||||||||
| SQ318 777-300ER | ||||||||
| SIN 12:45 | LHR 19:10 | ||||||||
| Duration: 14:25 | |||||||||
| SQ322 A380 | ||||||||
| SIN 23:45 | LHR 05:55* | ||||||||
| Duration: 14:10 | |||||||||
* Next day
London Heathrow Singapore
24 Nov 2024 – 29 Mar 2025
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
| SQ305 777-300ER | ||||||||
| LHR 09:10 | SIN 06:00* | ||||||||
| Duration: 12:50 | |||||||||
| SQ317 A380 | ||||||||
| LHR 10:55 | SIN 07:50* | ||||||||
| Duration: 12:55 | |||||||||
| SQ319 A380 | ||||||||
| LHR 20:35 | SIN 17:30* | ||||||||
| Duration: 12:55 | |||||||||
| SQ321 777-300ER | ||||||||
| LHR 22:05 | SIN 19:00* | ||||||||
| Duration: 12:55 | |||||||||
* Next day
Refurbished SilverKris lounge
A temporary reduction in SIA’s London Heathrow flights may be bad news, but there’s some good news too with the recent reopening of the carrier’s SilverKris lounge at the airport, following a six-month closure for renovation works.
This sees the lounge furnishings and style brought in line with the latest design concept rolled out at the Singapore Changi Airport T3 lounges in 2022.
SIA’s ‘cash cow’ route
Reducing frequencies to and from London Heathrow is a surprising move for Singapore Airlines, and not something we usually see, aside from the obvious reductions during the COVID-19 period.
Takeoff and landing slots at the airport are almost impossible to come by (SIA tries almost every season), and the route is widely known as the airline’s ‘cash cow’, earning the highest revenue of any route pre-COVID and without a doubt today as well.
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The carrier was nettingover US$2 million (S$2.7 million)per dayin revenue on Heathrow flights alone in 2019, 33% more than it made on Singapore – Sydney (S$2.0 million per day) and 68% more than third place Jakarta (S$1.6 million per day).
That’s always made London a high priority destination for Singapore Airlines in terms of capacity and the latest cabin products, so we suspect this temporary reduction in services is for other operational reasons, like fleet or crew constraints.
The airline certainly won’t be making the reduction permanent, since it would then lose its coveted slots at Heathrow.
SIA is also flying to London Gatwick
As you may recall, Singapore Airlines began flying five times weekly Airbus A350 flights to and from London’s second airport Gatwick back in June this year.
While it’s a less popular option for most of our readers, don’t discount it when it comes to award searches.
For the month of November 2024, when these Heathrow service reductions take effect, there are still 94 immediately-confirmable Saver Business award seats available to and from London Gatwick at the time of writing, compared to only 69 to and from London Heathrow.
When you consider that Gatwick has only 44 flights (both directions) during the month, while Heathrow has 216 flights, average Business Class award space to and from Gatwick is far better.
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Here’s how SIA’s Gatwick schedule looks for the northern winter season.
Singapore London Gatwick
27 Oct 2024 – 28 Mar 2025
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
 | SQ312 A350 LH | ||||||||
| SIN 23:55 | LGW 06:25* | ||||||||
| Duration: 14:30 | |||||||||
* Next day
London Gatwick Singapore
27 Oct 2024 – 28 Mar 2025
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
| SQ309 A350 LH | ||||||||
| LGW 09:20 | SIN 06:15* | ||||||||
| Duration: 12:55 | |||||||||
* Next day
Singapore Airlines recently had its slot application for daily flights to and from London Gatwick approved for the winter season, but at the time of writing no increase in frequencies has been announced.
KrisFlyer award rates
Here’s a reminder of the number of KrisFlyer miles needed for the Singapore – London route.
| KrisFlyer Redemption (one-way) Singapore ⇄ London | ||
| Saver | Advantage | |
| Economy | 42,000 | 70,000 |
| Premium Economy | 71,000 | n/a |
| Business | 103,500 | 123,000 |
| First / Suites | 141,000 | 225,500 |
These rates apply to both Heathrow and Gatwick flights.
Summary
Singapore Airlines is temporarily reducing its flight schedule to and from London Heathrow for a four-week period between 27th October and 23rd November 2024, a surprising move on its ‘cash cow’ route, where the carrier is usually trying to increase its presence, rather than scale it back.
There will only be three SQ308/319 services per week during this period, though the SQ318/321 flight will then upgauge from the Boeing 777-300ER to the Airbus A380 on selected days, to help compensate.
Five times weekly flights to and from London Gatwick airport continue as normal in November, and this is potentially the route to look at for better Business Class award space – six times better on average per flight than Heathrow during the month.
(Cover Photo: Heathrow Airport Limited)
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