Singapore Airlines (SIA1) (SINGY) (SIA) is bringing back the Airbus A380 for flights to Sydney (SYD) from December 1, 2021, the carrier announced on October 22, 2021.
The decision allows the airline to increase capacity to Australia as the country reopens its borders in time for Christmas travel, SIA said in a press release.
“With the NSW and Australian border opening up from November 1, the A380 will support even more Australians hoping to connect with loved ones ahead of the Christmas period,” Louis Arul, SIA regional vice president, said in the statement.
Singapore Airlines (SIA1) (SINGY) was the first airline to introduce the A380 back in 2007 and Sydney was its inaugural destination.
However, its A380 services have been suspended for over a year due to the pandemic. The carrier will bring its A380 back to regular service on November 18, 2021, with its first flight between Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) and London Heathrow (LHR), the United Kingdom.
Arul said the announcement of the flights to Sydney was “another step on the road to recovery” and that the carrier would remain nimble in deploying capacity to markets based on demand.
The A380 to SYD will operate daily as flight SQ231, departing SIN at 0045 local and arriving SYD at 1150 local. The return flight SQ222 departs SYD at 1610, arriving SIN at 2120 Flights are on sale from October 22, 2021.
Before commencing the longer routes, SIA will first carry out short familiarisation flights from SIN to Kuala Lumpur (KUL) for the purposes of crew training. The one-hour flights will commence from November 2.