Singapore Airlines: year-round Airbus A380 flights for Melbourne

By Chris C., November 28 2016
Singapore Airlines: year-round Airbus A380 flights for Melbourne

Singapore Airlines is bringing its flagship Airbus A380 back to Melbourne on a year-round basis, extending the airline’s temporary superjumbo service to the Victorian capital: previously due to end in March 2017 before reverting to a Boeing 777.

Instead, SQ’s A380s will continue gracing Melbourne’s skies, a Singapore Airlines spokesperson confirmed to Australian Business Traveller, with the jet now appearing daily on flight SQ217 from Singapore and SQ218 from Melbourne.

The world’s largest passenger aircraft offers travellers a choice between Suites Class, business class, premium economy and economy.

‘Suites Class’ is Singapore parlance for ‘A380 first class’, with these passengers gaining access to a dedicated Singapore Airlines first class lounge in Melbourne or The Private Room in Singapore before their flight, after which, they’ll fly in style and privacy with all suites featuring closing doors:

Business class too provides fully-flat beds with direct aisle access courtesy of the 1-2-1 cabin layout, with plenty of space to work and relax during the day as well:

AusBT review: Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 business class, Singapore-London

Premium economy instead comes in a 2-4-2 arrangement, with reclining seats offering 38 inches of total space – known as ‘pitch’ – plus a padded leg rest and swing-down foot rest:

AusBT review: Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 premium economy, Sydney-Singapore

Melbournians can catch the A380 on flight SQ218 – departing the Coffee Capital at 1:05am daily to reach Singapore at 5:45am – and aboard SQ217 on the return: wheels-up at 10:45am for a 9:10pm touchdown later that evening.

In recent times, Singapore Airlines has also upgraded selected Brisbane-Singapore flights from Airbus A330s to the Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, complete with A380-style fully-flat beds in place of the less-appealing ‘sloping sleepers’ found on the A330s.

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Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

17 May 2015

Total posts 55

And yet Qantas only have flight a day to Singapore.....they need more planes to fly this route and the route to Hong Kong where Cathay is doing 3-4 flights a day!! 

28 May 2016

Total posts 128

Remember that in addition to QF's daily flight there is the daily EK flight which can be booked on a QF code, and the ~5 weekly JQ flight. So there are other options for QF loyalists.

28 May 2016

Total posts 128

For SIN flights that is.

30 Dec 2014

Total posts 14

Also QF fly MELSIN 10pw, Fri Sat and Sun have a double-daily service.

31 Mar 2016

Total posts 621

@chap6595:

"And yet Qantas only have flight a day to Singapore.....they need more planes to fly this route."
QF may need a bit more frequencies for MEL-SIN but it's totally unrealistic to expect QF to even remotely match SQ frequencies/total seat supplies in that mkt.

On this route, QF can mostly only capture demand heading to/fm SIN.  In contrast, SQ can capture the same PLUS connecting traffic all across SQ network(Plus codeshare across Silk/Tiger/Scoot network) via SIN hub.

"and the route to Hong Kong where Cathay is doing 3-4 flights a day!!"
It's a no-brainer to guess that the equivalent pax traffic volume of @ least 1.5 CX daily frequency for MEL-HKG does not even see the immigration desk @ HKG terminal.....  In contrast, almost every QF pax on any MEL-HKG flight ends the journey in HK.  QF Group did try hard to diversify traffic flow @ HKG thru  JetStar HK establishment but lost the legal battle and the rest is history. 

It's econ suicidal /irrational if QF try to match SQ or CX frequency(e.g. "more planes to fly this route") @ MEL.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

06 May 2016

Total posts 33

Instead of extending the A380 to Melbourne, they should continue on flying the A350 to Melbourne.  Can someone comment whether SQ will bring back A350 to Melbourne in 2017?

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

15 Mar 2016

Total posts 167

They have previously said they plan to make A350s to Australia a permanent feature when they have enough. 

31 Mar 2016

Total posts 621

@Melbzone:"Instead of extending the A380 to Melbourne, they should continue on flying the A350 to Melbourne."
Can "someone" explain why they should?

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