Singapore Airlines and Scoot make a comeback in China’s aviation market after a hiatus.
Singapore Airlines and Scoot to Restart Flights to China
Starting November 26, 2024, Singapore Airlines (SIA) will resume flights to four cities in China: Chongqing, Chengdu, Shenzhen, and Xiamen. Additionally, Scoot, SIA’s budget carrier, will relaunch its Singapore-Changsha route. All five of these services had been suspended in 2023 due to regulatory reasons.
SIA will introduce thrice-weekly return flights to Chongqing and a new daily return service to Shenzhen. Meanwhile, a daily return flight to Xiamen will begin on December 3, and SIA will operate four weekly return flights to Chengdu from December 3 to December 31. Starting January 1, 2024, SIA will increase these to daily services until January 29, 2024, before returning to thrice-weekly flights on January 31, 2024. These routes, previously managed by SilkAir, which merged with SIA in 2021, will be operated using SIA’s Boeing 737-8 MAX jets, which seat 154 passengers.
In parallel, Scoot will resume return services to Changsha using Airbus A320 and A320neo aircraft starting November 26. However, Scoot will discontinue flights to Shenzhen after November 25, as SIA’s daily services to this city will commence the following day.
Expanding SIA Group’s Reach in China
Together with a new second daily SIA return service to Guangzhou, SIA Group will operate 150 weekly flights to 22 destinations in China by the end of December 2024. SIA will fly 70 weekly services to seven Chinese destinations, including Beijing and Chengdu, while Scoot will operate 80 weekly flights to 16 destinations in China. These include additional services to Nanjing, Qingdao, Shenyang, Tianjin, Wuhan, and Xi’an.
China has regained its position as one of Changi Airport’s top five markets in terms of passenger traffic, with half a million travelers recorded between Singapore and China in August 2024. As China remains a key market, SIA Group will continue to monitor travel demand and adjust flight offerings accordingly.
Industry Insights and Future Plans
While the resumption of these services is seen as a positive development, independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie pointed out that flights to cities such as Kunming, Harbin, and Wuxi have not been reinstated yet. He also highlighted that flight capacity to China will remain over 20% below 2019 levels in December 2024, even with the return of flights to Beijing and Shanghai in the first half of 2024.
Sobie emphasized the importance for SIA Group to fully restore its seat capacity to China, as Chinese carriers have already resumed their capacity to Singapore.
