There is bad news for those who have booked Singapore Airlines’ Shanghai route: the airline is reducing the capacity of its flights from the Airbus A380 to the Boeing 777. for practically the entire 2024/25 winter season.
This week, Singapore Airlines returned its Airbus A380 to the Shanghai route for the first time since October last year. The SQ830/833 service will now see the airline’s flagship aircraft fly daily until mid-September and then again in the second half of October 2024.
Although it seemed that the end of the line had been reached for these aircraft, just a month ago SIA surprised us by extending Airbus A380 service to and from Shanghai throughout the northern winter season from late October 2024 to late March 2025, on the same daily flights SQ830/833.
That was great to hear, especially since Suites award seats were available for redemption at the Saver level on many dates, but unfortunately Now there is bad news – SIA has changed its mind.
A380 aircraft withdrawn from Shanghai this winter
SIA’s already confirmed Airbus A380 flights for the coming winter to Shanghai (SQ830/833) will now instead with four-class Boeing 777-300ER aircraftbetween 27 October 2024 and 29 March 2025.
However, there will be a short break during the Chinese New Year holidays at the end of January 2025, when Airbus A380s will again be used on this service for a period of two weeks.
This is what the revised flight schedule for Shanghai now looks like, with four daily flights during the coming northern winter season, including Former A380 services now also planned for the Boeing 777-300ERand those keep the superjumbo for a short time.
Singapore Shanghai
27 October 2024 – 29 March 2025
All lines operate daily
| Airplane | Dates | |||
 |
SQ826 |
787 787-10 |
All | |
| SIN 01:15 |
PVG 06:30 |
|||
|
SQ828 |
359 LH A350LH |
All | |
| SIN 07:20 |
PVG 12:45 |
|||
|
SQ830 |
77W 777-300ER |
27 October – 14 January 1 February – 29 March |
|
| SIN 09:20 |
PVG 14:35 |
388 A380 |
15 January – 31 January | |
|
SQ836 |
787 787-10 |
All | |
| SIN 16:40 |
PVG 22:20 |
|||
Shanghai Singapore
27 October 2024 – 29 March 2025
All lines operate daily
| Airplane | Dates | |||
|
SQ825 |
787 787-10 |
All | |
| PVG 00:10 |
SIN 06:00 |
|||
|
SQ827 |
787 787-10 |
All | |
| PVG 08:20 |
SIN 14:10 |
|||
|
SQ831 |
359 LH A350LH |
All | |
| PVG 13:50 |
SIN 19:40 |
|||
|
SQ833 |
77W 777-300ER |
27 October – 14 January 1 February – 29 March |
|
| PVG 16:25 |
SIN 22:15 |
388 A380 |
15 January – 31 January | |
As you can see, except for a two-week period in January 2025, this route will use the Boeing 777-300ER, i.e. older First Class seats (not suites) from 2013 and Business Class seats from 2013.
This is not the first time that Singapore Airlines has removed the A380 from flights to Shanghai. The type was originally scheduled to operate for the entire 2024 summer season, but will ultimately only be used for around 8 out of 28 weeks following a schedule reshuffle.
Suite passengers are most affected
This change is not a gigantic Offer for those who have booked in Business Class, Premium Economy or Economy Class. If you have secured a Suites Award or spent money on this exclusive cabin, you now have the alternative seat is not quite at eye level.
For suite passengers who have already booked on the affected flights SQ830/833, this means a different experience from now on…
in addition…
This is obviously quite a downgrade and should perhaps make you think about whether the mileage or money spent on this cabin is still worth it.
Unfortunately, there are no suite alternatives on the Shanghai route on the affected dates.
However, we are still convinced by the 2013 First Class product installed on Boeing 777-300ERs, so you shouldn’t write it off completely. You can read our review of the product here.
In Business Class, the impact is less problematic, as the newer 2017 seats on the A380 are being replaced by the 2013 seats on the 777-300ER, as they are quite similar in most respects.
(Photos: MainlyMiles)
The A380 will return to Shanghai at the end of March 2025
According to Singapore Airlines’ current flight schedule, continuous daily Airbus A380 service in northern Shanghai is expected to resume in the 2025 summer season.
However, as you can see from this message, these aircraft allocations are not quite set in stone so far in advance, so there is a big caveat here – it could change in the meantime.
Unless something changes, the wide-body jet will be on a overnight Flight Singapore-Shanghai next summer with a morning flight back in rotation mode SQ826/827.
SQ830/833 will continue to use a four-class Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, meaning there will be a first-class option on two flights per day on this route, while SQ828/831 and SQ832/835 will use the three-class Airbus A350 Long Haul aircraft.
Only a single daily flight with a Boeing 787-10 (SQ836/825) will offer a two-class service with regional cabin products on the Shanghai route next summer.
This is the schedule for summer 2025, including daily A380 services.
Singapore Shanghai
30 March 2025 – 25 October 2025
All lines operate daily
Shanghai Singapore
30 March 2025 – 25 October 2025
All lines operate daily
* Next day
As you can see, SIA will also increase flight frequencies on this route by 25% next summer, with five instead of four daily connections in the summer months of 2025.
This reflects both current and pre-COVID operations to and from Shanghai, with five daily flights in summer and four in winter.
KrisFlyer Rewards
Here you will find the latest KrisFlyer award fares for Singapore – Shanghai, including First Class/Suite cabins where available.
| KrisFlyer redemption Singapore ⇄ Shanghai |
||
| saver | Advantage | |
| Business | 21,500 | 40,000 |
| Premium economy | 34,500 | n/a |
| Business | 43,000 | 65,000 |
| First / Suites | 58,500 | 98,000 |
SIA’s A380 flight schedule for this winter
This is what Singapore Airlines’ Airbus A380 flight schedule looks like for the upcoming winter season, based on the GDS flight schedules as of August 10, 2024.
| SIA Winter 24/25 A380 flights (provisional) |
||
| route | Flights | frequency |
| Delhi | SQ406/403 | 7 x weekly |
| Frankfurt (except 26 December 15-31 January) |
SQ326/325 | 7 x weekly |
| Hong Kong | SQ892/893 | 7 x weekly |
| London | SQ322/317 SQ318/321 |
7 x weekly 7 x weekly |
| Mumbai | SQ424/423 | 7 x weekly |
| Shanghai (15-31 January only) |
SQ830/833 | 7 x weekly |
| Sydney | SQ221/232 SQ231/222 |
7 x weekly 7 x weekly |
It is a thin list for 12 aircraftHowever, the Airbus A380s are burdened with many maintenance requirements and airworthiness directives, which means that they have been spending a lot of time in the hangar recently.
SIA recently flew one of its A380s (9V-SKT) empty for 13.5 hours for maintenance to Teruel in Spain, while two other A380s (-SKQ and -SKY) are housed in a hangar in Singapore, reducing the superjumbo fleet currently in service to just nine aircraft.
The full flight schedules for the winter season will be finalized in the coming weeks, but it already looks like SIA’s A380 Hong Kong The flight can also be set to downgauge.
Bookings for these services SQ892/893 The sale of First Class seats is limited to 4except between 16 January and 31 January 2025, where the sales cap is 6 seats, indicating that the operation of the Boeing 777-300ER Strictly speaking planned for most of the season.
Stay tuned for the latest details on SIA’s winter 2024/25 flight schedules as they become available.
Singapore Airlines has reversed its decision to upgrade daily flights SQ830/833 on its Shanghai route to the Airbus A380 in the coming winter season from late October 2024 to late March 2025, just one month after the announcement.
This means that these flights between the end of October 2024 and the end of March 2025 will now be operated with four-class Boeing 777-300ER jets instead.
For those lucky enough to have already booked for this period, there will still be two weeks of A380 operations on this service between 15 and 31 January 2025, during the Chinese New Year holiday.
Overall, however, this is bad news for those who booked a suite cabin, as most of them will now be sitting in the less exciting (but still good) first class seats of 2013.
Despite the withdrawal of the A380 from this route, it will (so they say!) be back in service on Shanghai flights SQ826/827 from the start of the summer season at the end of March 2025. However, that is still too far away to say with certainty at this point in time.
(Cover photo: Peter Gronemann)
