Owing to an aircraft swap scheduled in late October, Singapore Airlines is putting its first class product back onto the Singapore – Auckland route.
Singapore Airlines is increasing the number of flights into Auckland later this year and is bringing back first class to the New Zealand market for the first time since 2020. On October 30, Singapore Airlines is swapping out the current first class cabin-free Airbus A350-900 for the Boeing 777-300ER on their daily Singapore-Auckland-Singapore flights. Plus, over the 2022/23 Southern Hemisphere summer, Singapore Airlines will fly a second return service to Auckland four days a week.
With the late October swap over already scheduled, a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER will operate the daily SQ285 overnight flight down to Auckland and the daily mid-afternoon SQ286 departure back to Singapore. The 777-300ER operating SQ285/286 will offer four cabin classes, including a four-seat first class cabin for those passengers hankering for a taste of the good life.
Singapore Airlines is laying on an additional flight down to Auckland every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from October 30. SQ281 will push back from Singapore at 08:45 and make the long flight down to Auckland over the course of the day, arriving at 23:35. The return flight isn't so pretty, with a 01:20 departure from AKL every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. SQ282 powers through the night to land in Singapore at 06:45 on the same day. Unlike the daily SQ285/286 flights, these four times-a-week flights, which will operate through to March 25, 2023, won't offer first class. The operating aircraft are Airbus A350-900, and premium cabin passengers will have to make do with business class – but that's no real hardship on Singapore Airlines.
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It will bring the total number of weekly Singapore Airlines flights in each direction on the Singapore – Auckland city pair to 11 over the upcoming Southern Hemisphere summer. Hometown airline and Star Alliance partner, Air New Zealand, also flies daily in both directions on the sector. However, Air New Zealand does not offer a first class cabin on any of its aircraft.
Meanwhile, on New Zealand's South Island, Christchurch Airport (CHC) is trying to tee up flights to the South Australian capital of Adelaide (ADL). There are no direct air services between the two cities, but Christchurch Airport executive Justin Watson told New Zealand travel trade publication TravelIncMemo that his airport was talking to Adelaide Airport about finding an airline to service the route. Mr Watson says the average annual passenger number between the two cities is 25,000 (or around 480 passengers a week).
Those kinds of numbers barely justify two narrowbody return services a week – perhaps suggesting why no airline has flown the route. But Mr Watson says, not unreasonably, that if the flights were available, more people would fly the sector. The city pair is the kind of short-haul international route that might suit Qantas' future A220-300 fleet. Qantas recently placed a firm order for 20 of the planes, with the first anticipated to land late in 2023. With a 6,300-kilometer range, the plane easily has the ability to fly between Christchurch and Adelaide, and with seating for 137 passengers, the A220-300 is potentially the type of plane to suit the ADL -CHC city pair. However, getting Qantas to bite is a whole other ballgame, but both airports are playing a long-term game.
"Research shows traffic between the two cities was on a steady rise before COVID," said Mr Watson. "We realize this service might take a couple of years to come to fruition (but there is) definite interest in getting it across the line."
Source: TravelInc Memo
Lead Journalist – Southwest Pacific -.A Masters level education and appetite for travel combine to make Andrew an incredible aviation brain with decades of insight behind him. Andrew’s first-hand knowledge of the challenges and opportunities facing Australian airlines adds exciting depth and color to his work. Andrew is based in Sydney.