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I see that the SQ23 JFK-SIN nonstop continues, long after the resumption of EWR-SIN and JFK-FRA-SIN. Guess this means SQ is expanding their presence in the New York / New Jersey market.

Has SQ restarted SIN-EWR flights?? Couldn't find any.

Scotron12 wrote:

Has SQ restarted SIN-EWR flights?? Couldn't find any.

SQ is resuming SIN-EWR in late March.

Has Singapore airlines improved their US call center operations yet. I had booked a flight in December and wanted to make a change (and the website would not allow me to). I was on hold for more than an hour and the call got disconnected. Even their chat feature does not work. Did not expect this from an airline like Singapore. Disappointed indeed.

hohd wrote:

Has Singapore airlines improved their US call center operations yet. I had booked a flight in December and wanted to make a change (and the website would not allow me to). I was on hold for more than an hour and the call got disconnected. Even their chat feature does not work. Did not expect this from an airline like Singapore. Disappointed indeed.

The entire world is under staff right now. Calm down.

blooc350 wrote:

hohd wrote:

Has Singapore airlines improved their US call center operations yet. I had booked a flight in December and wanted to make a change (and the website would not allow me to). I was on hold for more than an hour and the call got disconnected. Even their chat feature does not work. Did not expect this from an airline like Singapore. Disappointed indeed.

The entire world is under staff right now. Calm down.

To be fair, their (or any other company's) staffing levels should not have to become the customer's problem.

MoKa777 wrote:

blooc350 wrote:

hohd wrote:

Has Singapore airlines improved their US call center operations yet. I had booked a flight in December and wanted to make a change (and the website would not allow me to). I was on hold for more than an hour and the call got disconnected. Even their chat feature does not work. Did not expect this from an airline like Singapore. Disappointed indeed.

The entire world is under staff right now. Calm down.

To be fair, their (or any other company's) staffing levels should not have to become the customer's problem.

What I heard is that it is due to COVID measures implementation: Half of the call centre staff is working from the call centre and half from home. The problem is that all calls need to go through the call centre first before they can be routed to someone who is working from home. As the call centre is only half staffed and there are a lot of changes due to covid which only can be handled through the call centre and not online, there is a big bottleneck. Definitely a bit of a stuff up.

Singapore Airlines launches 7-year US dollar bond issue
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/busines ... ar-2429471

Singapore Airlines has confirmed the return of daily SIN-EWR non-stop flights from 27 March 2022 on SQ22/21, which will run alongside the SIN-JFK non-stop and SIN-FRA-JFK flights.

The schedule from 27th March 2022 will see Singapore Airlines offering both a late morning and midnight departure in both directions on the world’s longest non-stop flights.

These will be in addition to the Airbus A380 option via Frankfurt, which will offer the latest Suites cabin and 2017 Business Class seats on a daily basis.

Source: https://mainlymiles.com/2022/01/12/sing ... k-flights/

Already showing and bookable on Galileo GDS.

Seems like a ton of capacity.

TC957 wrote:

Already showing and bookable on Galileo GDS.

SIN-EWR has been bookable for a while, I think this just confirms that they are indeed going to relaunch rather than softly try to move those with reservations to JFK-SIN.

For instance, I've had a booking for SIN-EWR for June since fall last year.

This was always the plan to some extent - I think the real development here is that they're going to keep both rather than just shift SIN-JFK-SIN back to SIN-EWR-SIN.

Jeez, that's a lot of daily seats no?

blooc350 wrote:

hohd wrote:

Has Singapore airlines improved their US call center operations yet. I had booked a flight in December and wanted to make a change (and the website would not allow me to). I was on hold for more than an hour and the call got disconnected. Even their chat feature does not work. Did not expect this from an airline like Singapore. Disappointed indeed.

The entire world is under staff right now. Calm down.

Other airlines have at least some kind of call back service and they return calls. SQ has no call back feature, will not answer chats and will put direct calls on hold for more than an hour and then disconnect and will not answer emails. I dont care, they need to ramp up and hire more or do something. This is not the kind of customer service we expect from an airline like SQ.

That's definitely a lot of seats in the current environment. Especially since some of the connections this would depend on are places that haven't opened up yet.

In all honesty though, who is traveling on these routes? Much of Eastern Asia is still restricted by way of travel. That too, business travel is the slowest of all groups to recover. How are they expecting to get good yields on these flights, especially the business class seats?

With EWR and JFK both flown by the ULRs, what are the other cities that will retain them? Are there enough for LAX and SFO or would SFO be dropped?

MrHMSH wrote:

With EWR and JFK both flown by the ULRs, what are the other cities that will retain them? Are there enough for LAX and SFO or would SFO be dropped?

Pretty sure they are flying with the standard A350 with the 280T one or more of those cities.

Even in normal times, seems odd.

That said, the US is open for business and visitors unlike most places they can fly.

Maybe just a place to use the planes?

MrHMSH wrote:

With EWR and JFK both flown by the ULRs, what are the other cities that will retain them? Are there enough for LAX and SFO or would SFO be dropped?

Don't know about SFO, but LAX gets one of those non ULR high gross weight A350s that have all three cabins right now and has been for a while.

Looking over the history of these flights the ULR variant (9V-SG*) is flying to JFK and SFO with LAX getting a regular A359.

UAL777UK wrote:

Jeez, that's a lot of daily seats no?

I wouldn't infer too much from this, other than:

1. They couldn't think of better routes and frequencies to use the crews and aircraft, and

2. They expect these services at least to cover variable cost, so it's better than parking aircraft

Keep an eye of fuel prices. ULH flying is very sensitive to fuel prices - because you're burning a lot of fuel to carry a lot of fuel.

PHLspecial wrote:

MrHMSH wrote:

With EWR and JFK both flown by the ULRs, what are the other cities that will retain them? Are there enough for LAX and SFO or would SFO be dropped?

Pretty sure they are flying with the standard A350 with the 280T one or more of those cities.

The standard A350 certainly has flown to JFK and LAX, but according to the link the ULRs will be on JFK and EWR, I'm wondering about the future once those 2 are going. I'd guess LAX will stay and SFO axed, but wondering if all 4 can be flown with the 7 ULRs in the fleet.

MrHMSH wrote:

PHLspecial wrote:

MrHMSH wrote:

With EWR and JFK both flown by the ULRs, what are the other cities that will retain them? Are there enough for LAX and SFO or would SFO be dropped?

Pretty sure they are flying with the standard A350 with the 280T one or more of those cities.

The standard A350 certainly has flown to JFK and LAX, but according to the link the ULRs will be on JFK and EWR, I'm wondering about the future once those 2 are going. I'd guess LAX will stay and SFO axed, but wondering if all 4 can be flown with the 7 ULRs in the fleet.

I think the max is 3 destinations with the 7 frames. It clearly seems to be that the West Coast sites can take a normal 350, or at least the 3-cabin ones.

I know pre pandemic people were tossing out YYZ or ORD as potential options for the third destination, but that was all speculation.

acavpics wrote:

In all honesty though, who is traveling on these routes? Much of Eastern Asia is still restricted by way of travel. That too, business travel is the slowest of all groups to recover. How are they expecting to get good yields on these flights, especially the business class seats?

I think the non-stops mostly cater to O&D traffic. There are much better places to connect for East Asia than SIN. SIN does act as a regional hub for Southeast Asia, most of which was open before Omicron so it's very likely that these countries will re-open in a couple of months.

SQ is facing a lot less competition now to Asia, with the lack of Chinese flights, and reduced services from other carriers. Perhaps they see this as a way to solidify marketshare, when things drift back toward normalcy.

flyguy1 wrote:

SQ is facing a lot less competition now to Asia, with the lack of Chinese flights, and reduced services from other carriers. Perhaps they see this as a way to solidify marketshare, when things drift back toward normalcy.

A lot less competition but also a lot a lot less demand. I do agree with your assessment that it's a way to solidify market share.

tphuang wrote:

That's definitely a lot of seats in the current environment. Especially since some of the connections this would depend on are places that haven't opened up yet.

This route is targeted at the O/D. Lots of money being made right now and business travelers are traveling. What is the most capacity SQ has had on this route?

airzona11 wrote:

tphuang wrote:

That's definitely a lot of seats in the current environment. Especially since some of the connections this would depend on are places that haven't opened up yet.

This route is targeted at the O/D. Lots of money being made right now and business travelers are traveling. What is the most capacity SQ has had on this route?

Lots of money being made right now? Have you seen the ticket sales to TPAC vs pre-COVID times? How many business travelers are going to Singapore right now? Here are the conditions to go there if you are vaccinated. How many people are looking to get PCR test before flight, upon arriving, on day 3 and 7 of their stay? I get stressed out just doing 1 PCR test before I go to a country and another coming back to USA.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/sing ... index.html

Fully vaccinated travelers coming from countries taking part in the VTL scheme are required to show proof of a negative PCR test but will not have to quarantine. Children under age 12 who cannot be vaccinated are permitted to enter as long as they are accompanied by an adult.
Travelers from these places must apply for an Air Travel Pass online before flying to Singapore.
Eligible visitors will need to show proof of a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours of the scheduled flight and will have to take another one upon arriving at Changi Airport. On days three and seven of their stay, they will need to test again at a designated clinic in Singapore.

With the HKG protests a lot of Asian business travel has shifted to Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and Malaysia/Vietnam/Thailand/Philippines. SIN is the leading business center in the region and with TPE/ICN/NRT/HND/HKG/CAN/PVG/PEK/MNL transit with lots of COVID testing most business travel has moved onto the non-stops.

tphuang wrote:

How many people are looking to get PCR test before flight, upon arriving, on day 3 and 7 of their stay? I get stressed out just doing 1 PCR test before I go to a country and another coming back to USA.

To be fair, doing three tests at Changi / "designated clinics" is probably a lot less stressful than tracking down a single test in NYC right now...

To address some of the comments:

(1) Flew SIN-JFK-SIN just days after the VTL went into effect. Flight was packed, J was completely full both ways, PEY had a couple of empty seats
(2) The testing regime upon return is quite straightforward. PCR on arrival at SIN, and even with that, it took 30 mins from docking at gate to being in a taxi, which is pretty damn efficient
(3) Day 3 and 7 supervised ART tests are widely available at Community Centers, former schools, etc., all over the island; you just go in, do the test, and leave (the results are SMS'd to you shortly after)
(4) All of this including health declarations, etc., can be easily managed with the Changi Travel Concierge website. It is super intuitive and useful. Classic Singaporean ruthless efficiency

I know a lot of people in Singapore have started to travel again for business (easier to travel as just one person) vs. for leisure (excluding Xmas/NYE holidays).

tphuang wrote:

airzona11 wrote:

tphuang wrote:

That's definitely a lot of seats in the current environment. Especially since some of the connections this would depend on are places that haven't opened up yet.

This route is targeted at the O/D. Lots of money being made right now and business travelers are traveling. What is the most capacity SQ has had on this route?

Lots of money being made right now? Have you seen the ticket sales to TPAC vs pre-COVID times? How many business travelers are going to Singapore right now? Here are the conditions to go there if you are vaccinated. How many people are looking to get PCR test before flight, upon arriving, on day 3 and 7 of their stay? I get stressed out just doing 1 PCR test before I go to a country and another coming back to USA.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/sing ... index.html

Fully vaccinated travelers coming from countries taking part in the VTL scheme are required to show proof of a negative PCR test but will not have to quarantine. Children under age 12 who cannot be vaccinated are permitted to enter as long as they are accompanied by an adult.
Travelers from these places must apply for an Air Travel Pass online before flying to Singapore.
Eligible visitors will need to show proof of a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours of the scheduled flight and will have to take another one upon arriving at Changi Airport. On days three and seven of their stay, they will need to test again at a designated clinic in Singapore.

Information is not fully correct: before departure it is a ART or PCR. On arrival it is PCR. Day 3 and 7 is ART in test centre. Day 2, 4, 5 and 6 is a self administered ART before you go out. I did it 2 weeks ago to/from Europe and the flight was over 95% full one way and around 60% return (that is with capacity capped due to Omicron) and not cheap. I took pre-departure ART to save costs. The PCR is after luggage collection before taxi and took less than 15 min (it was quite crowded). The ART at test centre took 15 min each and there are many test centres all over Singapore so is nearby.

It is amazing though. 2 NY airports.

Even some of the Euros dont do that anymore!

flyguy1 wrote:

SQ is facing a lot less competition now to Asia, with the lack of Chinese flights, and reduced services from other carriers. Perhaps they see this as a way to solidify marketshare, when things drift back toward normalcy.

Singapore, India, Thailand, and Maldives are the only major countries in the region currently open to most Westerners who are fully vaccinated, without major quarantine restrictions. Vietnam should be reopening in June. That means it has to be mostly O&D, although businesses formerly based in Hong Kong have likely relocated to Singapore.

The interesting thing is: what will lose the ULR service? (SFO has been using the 253-seat frames for some time; could LAX also utilize a 253-seat frame?) This would require 3 frames all by itself...the reason why the JFK service (SQ23/4) would only be 3 times weekly is because to maintain daily service on the current schedule would likely require 5 frames on both JFK and EWR (as it is, EWR daily and JFK 3x weekly only requires 3). The JFK schedule is similar to what the EWR schedule was originally.

The article touting SIN-EWR as the longest nonstop flight should do their research JFK-SIN is about 3 miles farther by GC distance.

bam111998 wrote:

The article touting SIN-EWR as the longest nonstop flight should do their research JFK-SIN is about 3 miles farther by GC distance.

But GC distance is only a guideline and few flights are made exactly as GC distance by a multitude of factors. In reality though, I don't consider 3 miles as something even worth mentioning.

Backstory: with the exit from rule of law in Hong Kong, many multinationals are moving their Asia headquarters to Singapore, a place that is not (yet) claimed. I doubt it needs that much traffic, but it could be possible.

ABpositive wrote:

jfklganyc wrote:

It is amazing though. 2 NY airports.

Even some of the Euros dont do that anymore!

I'm curious, why is SQ doing it though?

Business traffic, likely. SIN is one of the few countries in Asia open to Westerners, and it's largely a business center. A lot of businesses formerly in Hong Kong have relocated to Singapore. The additional service is on planes that don't have a Y cabin...only J and W, although JFK will also get one-stop service via FRA on the A380 again (an up-gauge over the current B77W). I had thought of this in the CX thread...Singapore's growth is at Hong Kong's expense thanks to Beijing interference, while Singapore is a city-state.

aemoreira1981 wrote:

The interesting thing is: what will lose the ULR service? (SFO has been using the 253-seat frames for some time; could LAX also utilize a 253-seat frame?) This would require 3 frames all by itself...the reason why the JFK service (SQ23/4) would only be 3 times weekly is because to maintain daily service on the current schedule would likely require 5 frames on both JFK and EWR (as it is, EWR daily and JFK 3x weekly only requires 3). The JFK schedule is similar to what the EWR schedule was originally.

The LAX service is already operating with the 253-seat aircraft (albeit restricted to the newer, 280t frames 9V-SMV-SMZ and SJA/SJB/SJE).

TWA302 wrote:

Seems like a ton of capacity.

I read not long ago that the SIN-JFK flight tends to be cargo heavy.

jfklganyc wrote:

It is amazing though. 2 NY airports.

Even some of the Euros dont do that anymore!

Blame DL for that.

As SQ and Singapore are resuming economic activities, the rest of East Asia is still in complete chaos. Based on the currently available schedule for Mar 2022:
TPE-JFK is down to 1 weekly by CI and 4 weekly by BR
ICN-JFK is down to 9 weekly by KE and 9 weekly by OZ (which is not too bad relatively)
NRT/HND-JFK is down to 9 weekly by NH and 14 weekly by JL (again not too bad but still less than pre-COVID)
HKG-EWR/JFK is down to 6 weekly by CX (this is a disaster comparing to 5 daily pre-COVID). UA's 1 daily is in the schedule now but I doubt it would be there for long

All in all, my congratulations to SQ and, more generally, Singapore

ABpositive wrote:

aemoreira1981 wrote:

ABpositive wrote:

I'm curious, why is SQ doing it though?

Business traffic, likely. SIN is one of the few countries in Asia open to Westerners, and it's largely a business center. A lot of businesses formerly in Hong Kong have relocated to Singapore. The additional service is on planes that don't have a Y cabin...only J and W, although JFK will also get one-stop service via FRA on the A380 again (an up-gauge over the current B77W). I had thought of this in the CX thread...Singapore's growth is at Hong Kong's expense thanks to Beijing interference, while Singapore is a city-state.

What I want to know though is why do both EWR and JFK?

At a guess...
EWR: Connections with UA
JFK: 1. SQ25/26 via FRA has been operating for many years; connections through FRA and a second daily flight to/from FRA. 2. There must be demand for NYC (and surrounding areas), they have the flight to EWR already, SQ25/26 is via FRA, so a non-stop makes sense.

airzona11 wrote:

... business travelers are traveling.

Are they though?

Exciting news! Just thinking back to the doomsayers in the past who would bring up great circle distances and connection times as arguments for CX owning the US->SEA market. I know this is mostly O/D now, but with CX out of the picture (and BR temporarily too), it's great to see SQ stepping up.