Singapore Airlines Schedules 60 Minute A380 Flights

Move over Emirates, Singapore Airlines will soon take the crown for operating the world’s shortest A380 service. Once an Emirates service between Dubai and Muscat, the shortest A380 service is soon to be Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. Let’s take a look at what Singapore Airlines has planned for the first week of November.

The largest commercial passenger aircraft will soon operate the extremely busy but short route between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Photo: Singapore Airlines

Starting November 4th

According to Executive Traveller, November 4th will see Singapore Airlines begin a daily Airbus A380 flight between Singapore Changi (SIN) and Kuala Lumpur International (KUL). Yes, that’s right- this will be a daily service on a flight that takes less than an hour.

The first service, assigned flight number SQ106 on November 4th, will depart Singapore at 08.30. The flight is then scheduled to touch down in Kuala Lumpur at 09:30.  The inbound service is SQ105, leaving KUL at 11:00, arriving at SIN at 12:10.

From November 5th through December 3rd however, the airline will operate its A380 service in the evening as SQ126, departing at 18:25. Returning to Singapore from Malaysia is flight SQ125, departing at 21:00 and arriving at 22:00.

Apart from the A380, Singapore Airlines deploys the Boeing 737-800 on this route, with its budget subsidiary Scoot using an Airbus A320. Singapore Airlines also deploys the A350-900 on this short service from time to time.

Would you rather fly on a Boeing 737-800 for this service? Or an Airbus A380? Photo: Singapore Airlines

Pent up travel demand?

Last week, Malaysia announced that it would be ending its domestic and international travel restrictions for fully vaccinated residents, having recently achieved a 90% vaccination rate among adults in the country. Meanwhile, Singapore has been easing its own border restrictions, starting with several countries around the world. While there has yet to be a travel corridor established between Singapore and Malaysia, the two have expressed a desire to reopen.

You would think that this A380 service is because of pent-up travel demand as restrictions slowly ease. However, this is apparently not the case (although it might help fill the jets a little bit more).

Strong social and economic relations between the two countries has made Singapore-Kuala Lumpur one of the busiest routes in the world. Photo: GCMap.com

In a statement to Executive Traveller, the airline reports that its A380 service to Kuala Lumpur is part of an operational ‘shake-down’ for its fleet of A380 jets- as many of them have been stored for a significant period of time. Simple Flying has inquired further with the airline on this topic but has yet to receive a response at the time of this article’s publication.

The previous shortest A380 flight

In 2019, Emirates launched the world’s shortest A380 flight. Pre-pandemic, the Middle Eastern carrier had set out to fly a twice-daily A380 service between Dubai and Muscat- a service scheduled to take a mere hour and 15 minutes.

Unfortunately, this service was suspended when the global health crisis emerged. While Emirates has been putting its A380s back on a number of its routes, this has yet to be the case for its Muscat service, which currently utilizes a Boeing 777.

What do you think of Singapore Airlines’ plan to put the A380 on such a short route? Let us know by leaving a comment.

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