At under an hour, this is the world’s shortest A380 flight!
Welcome to Singapore Airlines’ sixty-minute superjumbo jaunt to Kuala Lumpur and back.
By David Flynn, October 16 2021
Most Airbus A380 flights are globe-striding affairs of anywhere from eight to as 15+ hours.
The record-breaking longest A380 flight was a Qantas superjumbo in December 2019 which flew 18 hours 26 minutes non-stop (admittedly without passengers or cargo) from Dresden to Sydney after being refitted with the airline's latest seats.
But soon, the world's shortest A380 flight will take off – and it'll land less than 60 minutes later.
From November 4 through to at least early December, Singapore Airlines will roster its flagship Airbus A380s – complete with luxurious 'double bed' suites in first class – on the short sprint between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
It comes ahead of Singapore Airlines' November 18 restart of Airbus A380 flights on the flagship Singapore-London route, with more destinations likely to follow.
With the A380s having been grounded since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, Singapore Airlines says the flights are more of an operational 'shake-down' for the jets rather than crew re-familiarisation.
"We have ensured that a number of our pilots and cabin crew are certified to operate the A380 aircraft," a Singapore Airlines spokesperson told Executive Traveller.
"Recertification is not required as we resume our A380 operations on our services between Singapore and London. In addition, a group of our cabin crew have maintained their qualifications to operate the A380."
(Emirates previously flew an even shorter A380 flight between Dubai and Muscat – lasting just 40 minutes - but this has been suspended since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.)
The world’s shortest A380 flights are now on sale
Singapore Airlines has scheduled the first of its superjumbo jaunts for Thursday November 4, with SQ106 departing Singapore 8.30am to reach Kuala Lumpur at 9.30am – although from November 5 through December 3, that switches to the early evenings with SQ126 departing 6.25pm.
The daily return leg will be SQ125, which is wheels up from Kuala Lumpur at 9pm and back home at Changi T3 by 10pm.
The world's shortest Airbus A380 flights are now on sale...
Those flights are now on sale, with economy return fares from SGD$190 and business class return from SGD$790 – the same price as doing the trip on one of SQ's Boeing 737s (and yes, you do earn KrisFlyer miles).
Premium economy and first class aren't on sale, but it's not known if the 44 seats of the premium economy cabin will be included in economy seat selection.
Of course, there are currently restrictions on travel between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and the need to take a PCR Covid-19 tests prior to departure and on arrival will add to the overall cost and be a dampener to some of the fun of taking the world's shortest Airbus A380 flight.
What to expect on the world’s shortest A380 flight
On most Airbus A380 flights there's plenty of time for at least one three-course meal, a movie or some boxed set binging, maybe some work, certainly a sleep.
On SQ's Singapore-KL flights, you'll have just enough time to catch an episode of your favourite TV show.
But on Singapore Airlines' newest A380 route between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, there'll be precious little time to enjoy the superjumbo experience.
Although the flight itself is listed as being 60 minutes, the actual time from take-off to touchdown is much less – indeed, we suspect the process of boarding the planeload of passengers will take as long as the flight itself.
And if you're hungry, either grab a pre-flight bite in the airport lounge or on arrival, because we doubt Singapore Airlines will be able to serve anything more than a drink and the lightest of nibbles, even in business class.
Also read: See Singapore Airlines' early Airbus A380 first class concepts
17 Jun 2020
Total posts 235
This is interesting. Do you have an article or any more detail about something more relevant like Singapore adding more flights into Sydney?
The herald is reporting over 5000 seats a week? Can see plenty of articles here about Qantas but nothing on Singapore?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
02 Mar 2013
Total posts 26
@KW72 - SQ have, 15 minutes ago, released availability on SIN - SYD flights from 01 November.
17 Jun 2020
Total posts 235
Thanks for the article ET team! The Herald wasn’t detailed but glad it’s up here now.
09 May 2020
Total posts 572
Probably their way of getting their pilots to upgrade their currency to fly A380 while carrying pax instead of doing the empty hours (or rather, empty planes) runs.
Might be something QF can learn from if they want to reactivate their 4 engine equipment and their pilot and to stop cutting corners (as reported by some readers, some of their direct domestic flights between 2 cities like DRW-CBR are now being rerouted via Sydney on domestic leg of international flights (now that HDR-SYD stop over at DRW instead of SIN); definitely a sloppy move since these pax doing domestic runs run the risk of being treated the same as international arrivals on border control (not the quarantine bit but the PCR tests results bit: “where are your test results proof”)
For Casa (Australia) the rules are
To keep flying you need to have a current aircraft rating.
Under Part 61, if you are flying aircraft covered by a class rating, you need to have done a flight review for that class rating within the previous 24 months.
If you have done a current multi-engine aeroplane class rating flight review, you can operate single-engine aeroplanes.
CASA EX66/21 provides an alternative to the aircraft rating flight review. Instead of needing a flight review for each aircraft rating, pilots only need to hold a valid flight review in an aircraft of the same category that was completed in the previous 24 months. If you want to fly a multi-engine aircraft, the flight review needs to have been done in a multi-engine aircraft of the same category.
If you are carrying passengers, you also need to meet the recent experience requirements of three takeoffs and landings within the previous 90 days.
As a commercial pilot you can be subject to operator proficiency checks as well.
09 May 2020
Total posts 572
Oops, I misread and the reader was reporting travel CBR to DRW rather than the other way. So my conjecture about arriving in Sydney on the DRW-SYD leg is based on false assumptions so far
09 May 2020
Total posts 572
BTW. Not sure about boarding the “planeload”, as I doubt the plane will be full or even half full, since MY (or even AU/NZ for that matter) is still not on SG’s VTL list for quarantine free travel, unless either SIA or ER knows something we dont.
Mind you SG is relatively efficient at getting policies and protocol sorted so I won’t be surprised if another announcement will occur within days
01 Oct 2021
Total posts 7
Correct. A planeload of passengers is highly optimistic.
Etihad - Etihad Guest
21 Jul 2019
Total posts 191
To put this into perspective in terms of inflight service, pre-covid SQ would only serve a light snack such as a wrap on this route in business class. In economy it was drinks and peanuts. As a point of difference, MAS would serve up a full hot meal in business, which was impressive on a 45 min flight. I would expect SQ to carry on as before.
01 Oct 2021
Total posts 7
Correct. This is really not much different to the SYD-CBR leg of SQ288 (which by flight duration is even shorter) where refreshments such as a sandwich would be served in business class.
17 Oct 2021
Total posts 1
SIA , please advise on all the procedures required ( by both Malaysian and Singapore govts) for fully vaccinated Singapore PR to board a SQ flight from KLIA. Also for a fully vaccinated Malaysian citizen who is not a Singapore PR, and wishes to travel to Singapore as a visitor for two weeks.
Thank you.
01 Oct 2021
Total posts 7
This web site isn't run by Singapore Airlines. You'd be better off contact them directly with your enquiry.
Cathay Pacific - The Marco Polo Club
20 Jun 2013
Total posts 63
A nice change from the times when I traveled between Singapore and KL, use to be on some of the smallest passenger jets at the time. Cramped too even in J.
24 Jun 2020
Total posts 46
I'd be at the bar quicker than you could say "are we there yet?"
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
13 Nov 2015
Total posts 14
Does anyone remember how long the SYD to CBR leg was of the flight that used to stop in CBR on the way to SIN? That must have been similar, but I guess they didn’t sell tickets for that leg on its own. I did that a few times and they just about had time to chuck a sandwich at you before getting ready to land…
17 Oct 2017
Total posts 22
I think it was about 45 minutes on a good day. The last time I did it was NYE 2019, unfortunately no in flight service at all as they were "expecting turbulence", though it was actually a very smooth flight. And no pre-takeoff champagne, they said they would do it after takeoff. So it was a rather disappointing final flight for me. Looking forwards to getting back in the air in November - albeit without direct international flights from Canberra.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
12 Feb 2021
Total posts 21
SQ SYD/CBR on 77W was about 28 minutes. maybe 35 depending on departure runway.
I flew several times F on SQ on A310 from KUL/SIN and they did have a drinks/snack service and MH J on A330 the same. I do recall checking in at SQ F 3 kg overweight on F fare and wanting to charge me and I went next door to MH and the took the ticket. I recall I havd been to EZE and currency was low and had nie wool clothes from Argentina and rarely checked in luggage.
Happy travels.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
12 Jan 2017
Total posts 23
Not a scheduled flight, but my wife did a 33 minute block time flight from Batam to Singapore in a QF A380.
There was a weather diversion to Batam on the flight from Heathrow.
To say that I was pissed that she did that flight instead of me would be an understatement. I let fly a few choice words when I saw the diversion on the QF flight status page.
21 Oct 2021
Total posts 1
Might be the worlds shorted scheduled A380 flight. But the actual shorted could be Avalon- Tullamarine on a QF A380 there was an issue flying in from LAX and they landed at Avalon for an hour and had to reposition with a full load of passengers!
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