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Singapore Airlines to operate non-stop services to New York JFK from November

The three-times a week service will bypass Frankfurt for the first time since the 1990s.

Singapore Airlines has announced the resumption of its Singapore-New York service, this time round with a non-stop service to New York’s John F. Kennedy (JFK) international airport.

Singapore Airlines operates out of JFK Terminal 4

The non-stop flights to New York will restart from 9 Nov 2020 operating three times a week, using the 3-class variant of its Airbus A350 aircraft. This will be the airline’s second US destination after Los Angeles since the network reduction due to Covid-19.

For the record, SIA used to serve two airports in the Greater New York area just before Covid-19 struck: a daily service to JFK via Frankfurt, and a second non-stop service to Newark Liberty Airport (EWR).

The schedule

Singapore Airlines has picked new flight numbers – SQ24 and SQ23 – for this service.

Fun Fact:
SQ23/24 was the same flight numbers SIA used to operate Singapore-Amsterdam-Newark back in the 1990s up to early 2000s. The flights were operated using the Boeing 747s.

The outbound flight from Singapore, SQ24, will operate three times weekly, departing Singapore early morning on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, arriving into JFK at 7.30am the same morning.

Return flight SQ23 will depart from JFK at night on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, arriving into Singapore at about 6am, albeit two days later.

Full schedule below:

Sector Flight No. Days of ops Dep Arr Flight time Aircraft
Singapore –
New York JFK SQ24 Mon, Wed, Sat 0225 0730 18h 5m A350-900
New York JFK –
Singapore SQ23 Mon, Wed, Fri 2230 0610(+2) 18h 40m A350-900

In its media statement, SIA said that choosing JFK over Newark for the service will allow it to “allow Singapore Airlines to better accommodate a mix of passenger and cargo traffic on its services to New York in the current operating climate“, while also tapping on transfer traffic through Changi.

“Operating these flights between Singapore and New York’s JFK International Airport represent an important step in the rebuilding of our global network. Non-stop ultra-long services are the bedrock of our services to the key U.S. market. We will continue to ramp up existing services and reinstate other points as the demand for both passenger and cargo services return.”
Mr. Lee Lik Hsin, Executive Vice President Commercial for Singapore Airlines

Final thoughts

With the recommencement of the Singapore-New York service, Singapore Airlines will take the honour of operating the world’s longest service again, at over 18 hours.

Unsurprisingly, SIA is using its regular 253-seat 3-class long-haul Airbus A350 aircraft to operate this route. For the time being, this would suffice, given the incredibly low passenger load and with the focus on cargo shipment.

This new service, however, will help offer Singaporeans or Americans wishing to go home a direct service from the East Coast, without having to navigate through the complexities of transit arrangements at a third airport amidst Covid-19 restrictions.

22 October 20

Singapore Airlines full schedule for May 2020

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.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Full schedule below:

Southeast Asia
North Asia
Australia
Europe
USA

Southeast Asia – 129 flights

Sector	Flight no.	Days operating	Dep	Arr	Duration	Aircraft
Singapore – Kuala Lumpur	SQ104	Mon, Wed, Fri	0830	0930	1h	A350-900
Kuala Lumpur – Singapore	SQ105	Mon, Wed, Fri	1025	1135	1h 10m	A350-900
Singapore – Bangkok	SQ976	Mon, Fri, Sun	1600	1725	2h 25m	B787-10
Bangkok – Singapore	SQ979	Mon, Fri, Sun	1830	2155	2h 25m	B787-10
Singapore – Jakarta	SQ966	Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sun	1830	1920	1h 50m	A350-900
Jakarta – Singapore	SQ967	Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sun	2015	2305	1h 50m	A350-900
Singapore – Manila	SQ910	Mon, Fri	0930	1305	3h 35m	A350-900
Manila – Singapore	SQ917	Mon, Fri	1415	1755	3h 40m	A350-900
Hanoi – Singapore	SQ175	Fri	1235	1705	3h 30m	B787-10
Ho Chi Minh City – Singapore	SQ177	Mon, Thu	1230	1530	2h	B787-10

North Asia – 62 flights

Sector	Flight no.	Days operating	Dep	Arr	Duration	Aircraft
Singapore – Seoul	SQ600	Wed, Sat	0800	1535	6h 35m	A350-900
Seoul – Singapore	SQ609	Wed, Sat	1645	2200	6h 15m	A350-900
Singapore – Tokyo Narita	SQ638	Thu, Sat, Sun	0025	0830	7h 5m	B787-10
Tokyo Narita – Singapore	SQ637	Thu, Sat, Sun	1010	1620	7h 10m	B787-10
Singapore – Shanghai	SQ830	Mon	0930	1505	5h 35m	B787-10
Shanghai – Singapore	SQ833	Mon	1650	2220	5h 30m	B787-10
Singapore – Chongqing	MI972	Mon	0700	1135	4h 35m	B737-800
Chongqing – Singapore	MI971	Mon	1235	1730	4h 55m	B737-800

Australia – 26 flights

Sector	Flight no.	Days operating	Dep	Arr	Duration	Aircraft
Singapore – Sydney	SQ211	Tue, Fri, Sun	0935	1915	7h 40m	B777-300ER
Sydney Singapore	SQ232	Mon, Wed, Sat	1100	1730	7h 30m	B777-300ER

Europe – 80 flights

Sector	Flight no.	Days operating	Dep	Arr	Duration	Aircraft
Singapore – London	SQ322	Tue, Thu, Sat	2330	0555(+1)	13h 25m	A350-900
London – Singapore	SQ317	Mon, Thu, Sat	1125	0730(+1)	13h 5m	A350-900
Singapore – Frankfurt	SQ326	Wed, Fri, Sun	1155	1840	12h 45m	B777-300ER
Frankfurt – Singapore	SQ325	Mon, Thu, Sat	2000	1425(+1)	12h 25m	B777-300ER
Singapore – Zurich	SQ346	Wed, Fri, Sun	0125	0815	12h 50m	B777-300ER
Zurich – Singapore	SQ345	Mon, Thu, Sat	1145	0555(+1)	12h 10m	B777-300ER

USA – 27 flights

Sector	Flight no.	Days operating	Dep	Arr	Duration	Aircraft
Singapore – Los Angeles	SQ38	Wed, Fri, Sun	1940	2035	15h 55m	A350-900
Los Angeles – Singapore	SQ37	Mon, Wed, Sat	0005	0815(+1)	17h 10m	A350-900

24 April 20

Singapore Airlines full schedule for April 2020

Only 306 flights operating this month.

Singapore Airlines have published their schedule for the month of April, with its previously announced ‘greatly reduced’ capacity.

In this month, Singapore Airlines will only take off slightly over 300 times – and that includes a single weekly Silkair service to Chongqing.

In this month alone, SIA will only operate to 15 cities in 13 countries, including Los Angeles, Shanghai, Sydney, London, Zurich, Frankfurt and a handful of Southeast Asia capitals.

Full schedule below:

Southeast Asia
North Asia
Australia
Europe
USA

Southeast Asia – 123 flights

Sector	Flight no.	Days operating	Dep	Arr	Duration	Aircraft
Singapore – Kuala Lumpur	SQ104	Mon, Wed, Fri	0830	0930	1h	A350-900
Kuala Lumpur – Singapore	SQ105	Mon, Wed, Fri	1025	1135	1h 10m	A350-900
Singapore – Bangkok	SQ976	Mon, Fri, Sun	1600	1725	2h 25m	B787-10
Bangkok – Singapore	SQ979	Mon, Fri, Sun	1830	2155	2h 25m	B787-10
Singapore – Jakarta	SQ966	Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sun	1830	1920	1h 50m	A350-900
Jakarta – Singapore	SQ967	Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sun	2015	2305	1h 50m	A350-900
Singapore – Manila	SQ910	Mon, Fri	0930	1305	3h 35m	A350-900
Manila – Singapore	SQ917	Mon, Fri	1415	1755	3h 40m	A350-900
Hanoi – Singapore	SQ175	Fri	1235	1705	3h 30m	B787-10
Ho Chi Minh City – Singapore	SQ177	Mon, Thu	1230	1530	2h	B787-10

North Asia – 56 flights

Sector	Flight no.	Days operating	Dep	Arr	Duration	Aircraft
Singapore – Seoul	SQ600	Wed, Sat	0800	1535	6h 35m	A350-900
Seoul – Singapore	SQ609	Wed, Sat	1645	2200	6h 15m	A350-900
Singapore – Tokyo Narita	SQ638	Wed, Fri, Sat	2355	0800(+1)	7h 5m	B787-10
Tokyo Narita – Singapore	SQ637	Thu, Sat, Sun	0910	1520	7h 10m	B787-10
Singapore – Shanghai	SQ830	Mon	0930	1505	5h 35m	B787-10
Shanghai – Singapore	SQ833	Mon	1650	2220	5h 30m	B787-10
Singapore – Chongqing	MI972	Mon	0700	1135	4h 35m	B737-800
Chongqing – Singapore	MI971	Mon	1235	1730	4h 55m	B737-800

Australia – 22 flights

Sector	Flight no.	Days operating	Dep	Arr	Duration	Aircraft
Singapore – Sydney	SQ211	Tue, Fri, Sun	0935	1915	7h 40m	B777-300ER
Sydney Singapore	SQ232	Wed, Sat, Mon	1100	1730	7h 30m	B777-300ER

Europe – 79 flights

Sector	Flight no.	Days operating	Dep	Arr	Duration	Aircraft
Singapore – London	SQ318	1 Apr	2330	0555(+1)	12h 25m	A350-900
Singapore – London	SQ322	Mon, Thu, Sat	2330	0555(+1)	13h 25m	A350-900
London – Singapore	SQ317	Tue, Thu, Sat	1125	0730(+1)	13h 5m	A350-900
Singapore – Frankfurt	SQ326	Wed, Fri, Sun	1155	1840	12h 45m	B777-300ER
Frankfurt – Singapore	SQ325	Mon, Thu, Sat	2000	1425(+1)	12h 25m	B777-300ER
Singapore – Zurich	SQ346	Wed, Fri, Sun	0125	0815	12h 50m	B777-300ER
Zurich – Singapore	SQ345	Mon, Thu, Sat	1145	0555(+1)	12h 10m	B777-300ER

USA – 26 flights

Sector	Flight no.	Days operating	Dep	Arr	Duration	Aircraft
Singapore – Los Angeles	SQ38	Wed, Fri, Sun	1940	2035	15h 55m	A350-900
Los Angeles – Singapore	SQ37	Mon, Thu, Sat	0005	0815(+1)	17h 10m	A350-900

1 April 20

Buy LifeMiles and get up to 140% bonus

Your targeted bonus will only get you 125%, so use the link below.

Avianca’s LifeMiles is running a buy-miles-get-free-miles promotion right now, offering up to 140% bonus on miles bought.

If you are an existing LifeMiles member, you probably got the emailer offering 125% bonus, but Avianca is also running a similar promotion for readers of One Mile At A Time with a bigger bonus.

The promotion

LifeMiles will give anything between 105% to a whopping 140% bonus on the miles you buy. To achieve the 140% bonus, you will need to buy at least 101,000 miles, which is currently valued at USD3,333. At 140%, it will work out to USD 1.375 cent per mile.

You might have been targeted with an email offer giving up to 125%, but using this OMAAT link you can boost that bonus up to 140%.

Note that there is a maximum of 200,000 miles you can buy from LifeMiles each year, so the theoretical maximum of miles you can get is 480,000 miles for a cool USD6,600.

These are the bonuses depending on the number of miles you buy:

1,000 to 10,000 miles: 105% bonus
11,000 to 50,000 miles: 115% bonus
51,000 to 100,000 mile: 130% bonus
101,000 to 200,000 miles: 140% bonus

What is LifeMiles?

For the uninitiated, Avianca belongs to Star Alliance, so the miles are good for redemptions on the likes of Singapore Airlines, ANA, Lufthansa (why bother) and Air New Zealand.

While not as exciting as Alaska Air’s Mileage Plan, LifeMiles has also been offering pretty aggressive miles-buying promotions, lowering its usual 3.3 US cents per mile rate to below 2 US cents most times.

What is LifeMiles good for?

As mentioned above, LifeMiles can be used for Star Alliance redemptions. One good thing about LifeMiles is that they don’t charge fuel surcharge, so you pay a nominal cash fee for redemptions.

Some examples of redemptions out of Singapore:

Route	Miles required for one-way redemption
Route	Economy	Business	First
Singapore – Tokyo	20,000	36,000	50,000
Singapore – Hong Kong	20,000	36,000	50,000
Singapore – Sydney	22,500	40,000	60,000
Singapore – London	55,000	78,000	102,000

Final thoughts

According to some sources, this is definitely not the lowest price LifeMiles have ever gone – last year’s Black Friday sale saw LifeMiles selling for 1.32 cents apiece.

The usual recommendations apply, including buying miles only if you have a firm plan to fly. The LifeMiles search engine can be pretty challenging to use, so be very sure to find the inventory before buying the miles to use them.

If you have made your award booking through LifeMiles’ website, note that all changes and cancellations can only be done through their call centre, and the changes/cancellations will come with a fee. Also another thing to note is that LifeMiles will expire after 12 months of inactivity.

13 February 20

Singapore Airlines to take over Silkair’s Singapore-Busan services

The daily A330-300 service will see an increase of 76% in seat capacity between the two cities.

Singapore Airlines will operate an A330-300 service between Singapore and Busan, taking over the existing SilkAir service from 28 October 2019. The transfer will enable Singapore Airlines to increase seat capacity on the route by 76% to meet the growing travel demand.

SIA will operate flights to Busan four times per week, maintaining SilkAir’s current flight frequency. The revised schedule will be as follow:

Route	Flight	Departure	Arrival	Flight time	Days	Aircraft
SIN-PUS	SQ616	2310	0635(+1)	6h 45m	Mon, Fri, Sat	Airbus A330-300
SIN-PUS	SQ616	2310	0630(+1)	6h 40m	Wed	Airbus A330-300
PUS-SIN	SQ615	0800	1325	6h 25m	Tue, Thu, Sat	Airbus A330-300
PUS-SIN	SQ615	0810	1325	6h 15m	Sun	Airbus A330-300

The route will be served with the A330-300 aircraft with 285 seats, consisting 30 Business Class and 255 Economy Class seats. The A330s can accommodate up to 123 more passengers per flight than SilkAir’s 162-seat Boeing 737-800s which currently serve the Singapore-Busan route.

If you are familiar with SIA’s A330, you will know that these are the old 2009 regional business class seats in a 2-2-2 layout, which features angled beds.

Boeing 737 MAX 8

Silkair announced Busan as a new destination back in February 2019 which was supposed to be operated by the ill-fated Boeing 737 MAX 8s. However, the grounding of the fleet since March 2019 meant that the service was operated by the older Boeing 737-800s instead.

Given the range of a typical Boeing 737-800 is about 6+ hours, the Singapore-Busan sector is clearly within the upper limits of the range. Depending on the cargo loads for the flight and other factors such as weather, there may be load restrictions on the flight, which will definitely hamper commercial viability.

With Singapore Airlines taking over the service with the A330 (which is due for retirement by 2020), the move will free up some Boeing 737-800s for SilkAir to use for the upcoming year end Northern Winter peak.

13 September 19

Sector	Flight No.	Days of ops	Dep	Arr	Flight time	Aircraft
Singapore – New York JFK	SQ24	Mon, Wed, Sat	0225	0730	18h 5m	A350-900
New York JFK – Singapore	SQ23	Mon, Wed, Fri	2230	0610(+2)	18h 40m	A350-900