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Australian prime minister flags Singapore travel bubble as SIA’s A380s return to Sydney skies
October 22nd 2021
Singapore Airlines (SIA) announced Friday its flagship A380 will return to Sydney skies as the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, revealed a travel bubble with Singapore could be announced “within the next week or so”. Read More » Morrison told reporters Australia was in the final stages of concluding an arrangement with the Singapore government. He said he discussed the issue some months ago with Singapore’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong. “We anticipate this being able to be achieved in the next week or so, as we would open up to more visa class holders coming out of Singapore,’’ he said. ”We will see that occur.“ SIA has been serving Sydney throughout the pandemic and announced recently it was opening seat sales on its 17 weekly flights on the route in response to eased border restrictions. The decision to bring back its flagship A380 from December 1 was to meet expected demand over the Christmas holiday period. SIA regional vice president, Louis Arul, said the return of the A380 to Sydney underlined the airline’s unwavering commitment to the Australian market. “Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite a highly challenging and financially constrained operating environment, SIA invested heavily to ensure Australia remained connected to the world,” Arul said. “We have operated almost 4,000 passenger flights, helping to bring close to 67,000 people to Australia, the vast majority being Australians wanting to return home, as well as 3,000 cargo-only flights to keep key trade channels open, allowing essential medical supplies, PPE and COVID-19 vaccines to be delivered.” The A380 will operate daily from Singapore to Sydney as flight SQ231, departing Changi Airport at 00:45 local time, arriving in Sydney at 11:50 local time. The return flight, SQ222 will depart Sydney at 16:10, arriving at Singapore’s Changi Airport at 21:20. SIA’s A380s come with six first class suites, 78 business class, 44 premium economy and 343 economy seats. The airline’s A380s have a long history with Australia’s biggest city as it was the destination for SIA’s world first A380 commercial flight in 2007.
