Only 3% of its usual schedule in operation for the month.
Singapore Airlines has announced their schedule for the month of May.
In this month, Singapore Airlines will only take off about 324 times – and that includes a single weekly return Silkair service to Chongqing.
In May, SIA will continue operating to the 15 cities in 13 countries, no change from the cities it operated to in April. These include Los Angeles, Shanghai, Sydney, London, Zurich, Frankfurt and a handful of Southeast Asia capitals.
This is the second month that SIA is operating a skeletal schedule. While SIA’s booking engine and GDS do show a ‘regular’ pre Covid-19 schedule in June, we would expect that this be pared down significantly, given that international travel restrictions are not showing any signs of easing up right now.
Most Star Alliance airlines are moving to Terminal 3
Updated 29 April 2020: Changi Airport has published the full list of terminal moves, with most of the previously reported moves still accurate. The only exceptions are those who are supposed to move to T4, of which all of the airlines are currently suspending operations.
Changi Airport made a brief update on their website last night on the move since the announcement to close Terminal 2, although this was quickly removed.
For those who have not been following this development, Singapore Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan announced in Parliament that given the on-going Covid-19 development, Terminal 2 will be shut for 18 months to facilitate the upgrading works from 1 May 2020 through October 2021.
As such, airlines currently operating out of Terminal 2 will move to the other three terminals, which will provide some cost savings and accelerate the Terminal 2 upgrading works by as much as a year.
List of new terminals
The full list of airlines was originally published as follow, but Changi Airport has since updated to list them all as “TBC”:
[Update 29 Apr 2020] Changi Airport has updated the confirmed list of terminal moves, as below.
Airline
Terminal
Air India (AI) – currently suspended
4 TBC
Air India Express (IX) – currently suspended
4 TBC
ANA (NH)
1
Ethiopian Airlines (ET) – currently suspended
3
Etihad Airways (EY)
3
Indigo (6E)
4 TBC
LOT Polish Airlines (LO) – currently suspended
3
Lufthansa (LH)
3 TBC
Malaysia Airlines (MH) – currently suspended
1
Royal Brunei Airlines (BI)
1
Sichuan Airlines (3U)
1 TBC
Swiss International Airlines (LX)
3 TBC
United Airlines (UA) – currently suspended
3
This move seems to make sense, as Malaysia Airlines now belong with its other oneworld partners, including Qantas, Qatar and Japan Airlines. This move will allow a better transfer option with its partners, as well as lounge access for eligible customers.
Terminal 1 now has probably the strongest offering of lounges by a single alliance, with three business class lounges (Qantas, Qatar and British Airways), and one dedicated first class lounge by Qantas.
Qantas first class lounge at Changi Airport Terminal 1
Having said that, given the earlier announcement on a deeper partnership between Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines, the separation of both airlines across different terminals at Changi may be a temporary arrangement.
For the bulk of the Star Alliance airlines moving to Terminal 3, this is also a logical move given that Singapore Airlines is operating out of that terminal. Similar to its arrangements at Terminal 2, passengers travelling on these other Star Alliance airlines will be able to access Singapore Airlines’ SilverKris or Star Alliance Gold lounge, depending on the class of travel or elite status.
Final thoughts
As I’ve mentioned in my previous article, this downturn in passenger numbers may be a silver lining during this coronavirus episode, given that Changi Airport was on its way to hitting the ceiling in handling a good number of passengers comfortably within its four terminals.
While drastic and somewhat tragic for the aviation industry, this hard pause allows Changi to close off one terminal entirely and focus on relooking its operations while it has the space to. Many times in the past, the key challenging with any infrastructure work at Changi Airport is limited by its ability to manage on-going operations.
This allocation of terminals somehow has also cement Terminal 1 as a oneworld fort, while moving all the Star Alliance members to Terminal 3. There are obvious benefits for this, but the flip side of it is that airport resources are usually not optimised, given that not all alliances are equally represented and have equal operational loads at every airport.
Given Changi’s principles of pushing connectivity even across alliances and also wanting to optimise operations for passengers, my guess is that this arrangement most likely will be temporary at best, until things are somehow back to normal in a few years’ time.
Till then, I’ll be flying Malaysia Airlines quite a bit so I can enjoy Qantas’ lounges.
Several airlines frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programmes have announced membership extensions for affected members. Here are the details.
LAST UPDATED: 29 April 2020
With Covid-19 entering now heading into its fifth month soon and seeing no signs of easing, global travel has taken a severe beating. Airlines have made drastic cuts to their capacity, while hotels are reporting all-time low occupancy rates.
Moreover, China now makes up one of the most significant group of members that any airline or hotel will want, so I will imagine any loyalty programme manager will want to ensure that this group returns to the fold once the crisis is over.
Several programmes have announced expiry extensions for their elite members, almost most of them are targeted at members in Greater China. See below for details.
[Updated] Singapore Airlines have announced a one-year extension for all KrisFlyer Elite Silver, Elite Gold, PPS Club and Solitaire PPS Club membership which are expiring anytime this year till Feb 2021.
If you have already earned enough elite miles to renew your membership, note that you won’t get another free year (e.g. if your membership was going to expire in May 2020, and you have earned the pre-requisite 50,000 miles for Elite Gold for your next membership year of Jun 2020 to May 2021, you won’t get another free year till 2022).
Note that despite the one-year extension, your accrued elite miles and PPS value will still reset on your anniversary month, so you will have to earn them again in the new year.
All rewards (Elite Gold, PPS Rewards) that are expiring between July and Dec 2020 will also be extended until 31 Mar 2021.
Cathay Pacific
In an email sent to all members, Cathay Pacific informed Marco Polo Club members (separate from Asia Miles) of an extra Club Points credit given to every member, regardless of residency. It’s interesting that Cathay Pacific is not giving an automatic status extension, but instead be given three allotments of Club Points instead for the months of Feb, Mar and Apr 2020.
The number of club points given to each member for month differs by status, as follow:
Green: 10 club points
Silver: 30 club points
Gold: 65 club points
Diamond: 140 club points
All points will be credited by the end of each month. For those whose status expires in Feb, the points will be credited by end of Fen and the remaining points will be credited by the end of the subsequent months, depending on the new status qualified for.
Qantas will provide a 12-month extension on your current membership tier for all current Silver, Gold, Platinum and Platinum One members, starting with members whose membership year ends in March. Those with statuses expiring in March 2020 would have them extended till March 2021, with the last batch of members whose statuses originally expiring in Feb 2021 now extended till Feb 2022.
Email confirming extension of QFF status
Marriott Bonvoy
Updated 29 Apr: Marriott Bonvoy announced on 8 Apr that it will (finally) be extending status earned in 2019 by 12 months.
The status will normally expire in Feb 2021, but it will now expire in Feb 2022 instead, giving you an extra year. This will apply at all elite levels (i.e. Silver, Gold, Platinum, Titanium, Ambassador). The extended year of status will count towards lifetime status in the Bonvoy program.
All points will not expire before Feb 2021, after which if it will only expire if there was no activity in the past 24 months (i.e. since 1 Mar 2019).
Suite Night Awards will be have their validity extended until end 2021, while any free night awards expiring in 2020 will be extended until Jan 2021.
Early in January, Marriott Bonvoy announced its extension policies on their Chinese social media platform WeChat on 22 Feb 2020. Members residing in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan as of 1 Feb 2020 will be given the following extensions:
Members who qualified for elite status in 2019 will have their status expire by 28 Feb 2022 instead of 28 Feb 2021.
Any associated rewards or privileges with status will also be extended to expire 31 Dec 2021, instead of 31 Dec 2020.
All points will not expire before 28 Feb 2021. From 28 Feb 2021, normal expiry rules will apply.
Read the Chinese article here. For an English translation, refer to Loyalty Lobby’s article here.
Hilton Honors
Hilton Honors announced their provisions through their Chinese social media platform WeChat on 19 Feb 2020.
Members whose residential address is listed in Mainland China, Macau, Hong Kong or Taiwan as of 19 Feb 2020 will be given effectively a year’s extension on their status.
For those whose status was going to be downgraded on 31 Mar 2020 will have it extended through Mar 2021. Those that qualified in 2019 will have it until Mar 2022.
World of Hyatt
World of Hyatt will extend the status of all members in Asia Pacific for a year.
Qualifying World of Hyatt Discoverist, Explorist and Globalist members with status expiring on 28 Feb 2020 will now be extended all the way to 28 Feb 2022, rather than a previously announced 28 Feb 2021.
All Suite Upgrade Awards, Club Access Awards and Free Night Awards that are expiring in 2020 for qualifying members will also be extended through 31 Dec 2021.
What is even better is that World of Hyatt is also working to evaluate tier and benefit extensions for members outside of Asia Pacific, but travels frequently to the Asia Pacific region. More information will be shared with qualifying members as it becomes available.
IHG Rewards Club has announced an extension for its elite members. Members with status, and who are residing in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan as of 17 Feb 2020 will be extended by a year. Points expiry will also be extended by at least a year.
For those who have purchased the InterContinental Ambassador membership between 1 Jan and 30 Jun 2019, the membership validity and free weekend night voucher expiry has been pushed back by six months.
Accor Live Limitless
Accor announced 27 Feb 2020 status extensions for all members residing in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
All members with status expiring Dec 2020 will be extended through Dec 2021, while points expiring between 1 Feb 2020 and 31 Jan 2021 will be ‘halted’.
Platinum and Diamond members with suite upgrade vouchers will have their validity extended until Dec 2021.
GHA DISCOVERY
In an email sent by Pan Pacific Hotel Group last week, the hotel will be extending the status of all Platinum and Black members until 31 December 2021.
This appears to apply to all DISCOVERY members, regardless of which hotel chain they signed up with.
Specifically for Pan Pacific members, members will be able to enjoy savings of up to 25% across all participating restaurants and bars at properties under the Pan Pacific Hotels Group from 1 Jun 2020.
No minimum spend required, but you will need to fork out $695.50 for the annual fee (1.7 cents per mile)
SingSaver is currently running a sign-up promotion for SCB’s X Card, offering 40,000 miles as a sign-up gift if you pay the $695.50 annual fee, up from the usual 30,000 miles.
This offer effectively lowers the 2.3 cents per mile you would normal pay for to 1.74 cents per mile.
How to apply
The promotion mechanics are pretty straightforward: simply apply through SingSaver’s website. The bonus miles will be credited to your account directly, there is no need to fill up a separate redemption form.
SingSaver promotion -get 40,000 miles instead of the usual 30,000 miles when you pay the annual fee on the SCB X Card
The 40,000 miles will be transferred in the form of 100,000 360° Rewards Points that you can use on 11 different partners (see below).
Note that the annual fee is $695.50 cannot be waived.
An overview of the card:
Income requirement: S$80,000 p.a. (or $30,000 p.a. for Priority Banking customers)
Annual fee: S$695.50 for principal cardmembers, S$107 for supplementary cards
Annual fee gift: 30,000 miles (in the form of 75,000 reward points)
Earn rates: 1.2 mile per dollar spent (mpd) locally; 2.0 mpd overseas
Foreign currency transaction fee: 3.5%
What’s noteworthy is that Standard Chartered also boast of the widest range of airline transfer partners, with 11 partners under its fold. The transfer ratio varies though, so this is what you’ll get with 100,000 360° Rewards Points:
Loyalty Programme
Transfer Ratio
100,000 360° Rewards Points will give you:
Singapore Airlines Krisflyer
2.5:1
40,000 miles
EVA Air Infinity Mileageland
2.5:1
40,000 miles
Air France KLM FlyingBlue
2.5:1
40,000 miles
Qantas Frequent Flyer
2.5:1
40,000 points
Malaysia Airlines Enrich
3:1
33,333 miles
Qatar Airways Privilege Club
3:1
33,333 miles
Etihad Guest
3:1
33,333 miles
United MileagePlus
3.5:1
28,571 miles
Lufthansa Miles & More
3.5:1
28,571 miles
Emirates Skywards
3.5:1
28,571 miles
Accor Live Limitless
5:1
20,000 points
IHG Rewards Club
2.5:1
40,000 points
Best offer seen in 2019: 100,000 bonus miles
Standard Chartered Bank’s famed X Card has created a huge wave last year with its humongous 100,000 bonus miles offer, even though that meant spending $6,000 on the card.
This offer ran out in days, given the ‘overwhelming response’ and SCB even cut short the promotion. But, SCB return a short while later but at a reduced level of 60,000 miles, also at $6,000 minimum spend.
This again, ran out quickly. Since then, it was only the sign-up offer, i.e. 30,000 bonus miles for $695.50, making it poor value from any perspective.
Final thoughts
We have not seen any decent sign-up promotions from SCB in a while since its launch, so I guess this is as good as it can get – for now.
Having said that, without the sign-up bonus, there’s really no reason to have this card. It’s abysmal earn rate of 1.2 or 2.0 mpd for local or overseas spending pales – or at best equals to – other travel-related cards. You can easily find a card that has a much better earn rate, such as the UOB PRVI card at 1.4 mpd for local spend and 2.4 for overseas spend.
So the only upside to this card is probably the fact that you can transfer points to some lesser-known frequent flyer programme, such as Emirates Skywards. Even then, if you really don’t need the miles at this point, maybe it’s a good time to pass.
Property set to be the largest Hilton in Asia Pacific region
OUE Limited and OUE Commercial Reit (OUE C-Reit), owners of Mandarin Orchard Singapore, has announced that it will be rebranding the property into Hilton Singapore Orchard.
Located in the heart of Orchard Road right across from Ngee Ann City, Hilton Singapore Orchard will be Hilton’s flagship in Singapore and the largest Hilton hotel in Asia-Pacific.
The refurbishment was originally planned for later, but OUE has brought it forward to commence in Q2 this year, given the challenging climate due to Covid-19. The works are scheduled to complete by end 2021, for a 2022 opening.
When completed, the hotel will boast of 1,080 rooms, three ballrooms and five restaurants, one of the largest non-IR properties in Singapore.
In the meantime, the hotel will still continue to operate under the Mandarin Orchard brand, managed by Meritus Hotels & Resorts.
Final thoughts
This is definitely very exciting news for Hilton, given that the group has not put out any new properties in Singapore despite growing its footprint ferociously in other parts of Southeast Asia last few years.
The first question that comes to mind is what will happen to the current Hilton Singapore, which sits on the other end of Orchard Road. I’m expecting Hilton to give up that property, in favour of this shiny new boy come 2022.
I’ve not seen any renders or found any announcements by Hilton on this development, so it’s rather intriguing that OUE has decided to unilaterally put out the announcement.
I would expect Hilton to put out more information in time to come, but this is definitely an exciting development so I’ll be eager to try it when it opens.
