Singapore Airlines has increased flights to Mumbai to meet the surging travel demand. With this, the airline is one step closer to restoring pre-pandemic capacity on the Mumbai route.
Singapore Airlines is now operating 16 flights a week between Singapore’s Changi Airport and Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. Pre-COVID-19, the airline used to operate 3-daily flights to Mumbai.
Previously, the airline used to operate 14 flights a week (since it resumed scheduled flights after the COVID-19 pandemic).
SQ421/SQ422 is operated by Airbus A350 featuring 40 lie-flat Business Class seats and 263 standard Economy Class seats while SQ425/SQ426 is operated by Airbus A350 featuring 42 lie-flat Business Class seats, 24 Premium Economy seats, and 187 standard Economy Class seats.
SQ423/SQ424 is operated by Airbus A380 aircraft featuring 6 First Class suites, 78 lie-flat Business Class seats, 44 Premium Economy seats, and 343 standard Economy Class seats.
India going strong for Singapore Airlines
Recently, Lee Lik Hsin, Executive Vice President – Commercial, Singapore Airlines, said that the airline is looking to increase flights to India to capture the pent-up travel demand. He said:
The Indian market is recovering very strongly as well. We are seeing good load factors… we will be able to hopefully announce increases in flights over the next two schedules… whether it is for the winter schedule starting from October or even for next year.
At present, Singapore Airlines operates 73-weekly flights to Singapore from 8 Indian cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Kochi. Scoot, the low-cost subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, operates 38-weekly flights from 6 Indian cities – Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Amritsar, Tiruchirappalli, Trivandrum, and Visakhapatnam.
According to an airline spokesperson, SIA Group is currently operating around 75% of its pre-COVID-19 capacity.
The Singapore Airlines spokesperson said market feedback indicates that the current outbound traffic from India comprises primarily pent-up leisure traffic, while business travel will take longer to return to pre-pandemic levels.
In January 2022, Singapore Airlines introduced its latest aircraft, Boeing B737MAX-8, on flights to Hyderabad, Kochi, and Kolkata, replacing Boeing B737-800.
Talking about overall travel demand, Lee Lik Hsin said there is a “very speedy recovery phase we are seeing right now”. He added: We will put in a capacity of 61 percent by the end of June, and 67 percent by the end of September… very very strong load factors for April.
