Singapore Airlines removes A380 from Frankfurt/New York route
Singapore Airlines today announced a series of changes starting next May 2023. With the start of the [...]
Singapore Airlines
Star Alliance
Singapore Airlines announced today a series of changes starting next May 2023. With the start of the summer season, they will increase A380s used on routes to Australia and consequently will decrease those used to Europe.
Farewell A380 to New York
"From May 15, 2023, SIA will operate the Boeing 777-300ER on SQ26 and SQ25, the daily Singapore-Frankfurt-New York (JFK) service, instead of the Airbus A380. SIA's 777-300ER aircraft offer first-class cabins, which include the airline's entire list of first-class products and services."
In this article:
This is the communication from Singapore that tries to sweeten the pot by making passengers believe that flying first class on the A380 or 777/300 is the same thing.
The best bonuses
Unfortunately, however, the two products are not at all comparable. As you can see in my photos above, the first class cabin on the Singapore A380 is a 5sqm mini apartment. In contrast, on the 777/300, there are classic airplane seats: big, comfortable and very spacious, but still chairs that totally recline to become a bed.
In the night version, it is not the armchair that becomes a bed, as in any other first class in the world, but it is the staff who prepare a real bed (if you are traveling in pairs it becomes a double bed) where you can sleep like in a hotel room.
Even the bathroom is not a classic airplane bathroom, but a studio: it lacks a shower, which we find on board Emirates' A380s instead, otherwise it would be the top.
Flight SQ26/25
What is special about flights SQ26 (in the direction of JFK) and SQ25 (in the direction of Singapore) is that they are under fifth freedom and represent the only route operated by Singapore Airlines to the US with the A380.
With this medium change, then, Singapore will fly to Europe with A380 only to London twice a day and all other routes will be to Australia (Melbourne and Sydney) and nearby Asian destinations such as Shanghai, Mumbai, and Hong Kong.
In conclusion
For all serial accumulators of points and miles, this is bad news since the ticket to JFK from Frankfurt was bookable with only 86k Krisflyer points, plus just over €110 in taxes.
As mentioned, I recently flew aboard these suites, it was a very unique experience and the review will be coming in the next few days. There is now until May to grab one of the very rare award tickets on this route, then all that will be left is to focus on other, more expensive and less attractive routes.
However, allow me to send a warm embrace to all frequent flyers who managed to snag a ticket, or two, for this route as of May 15.