SINGAPORE – National carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA) will begin its first direct flights to and from London’s Gatwick airport from June 2024.
The non-stop flights will operate five times a week, the airline announced on Dec 18.
Prices are not yet available, but tickets will go on sale from Dec 19.
The service will use the long-haul variant of the 253-seat Airbus A350-900 aircraft, which has 42 business class seats, 24 in premium economy, and 187 in economy.
The inaugural flight from Singapore will depart on June 21, and will operate on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The estimated flight time is around 13hrs 30mins.
The return flight will take off from Gatwick on June 22, and will operate on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. This leg is estimated to take 13hr 5min.
Gatwick Airport in West Sussex – 47.5km from Central London – is the second-busiest airport in Britain after London’s Heathrow Airport.
Currently, SIA flies to Heathrow four times a day. The addition of the new route will bring the total number of flights to the British capital to 33 weekly services, up from the current 28. SIA also operates flights five times a week to Manchester Airport.
Besides giving travellers an additional flight to choose from when flying between Singapore and Britain, the new service “opens up additional travel options to other points in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region”, said Mr Dai Haoyu, acting senior vice-president for marketing planning at SIA.
Mr Stewart Wingate, chief executive of London Gatwick, noted that connecting Gatwick to Changi Airport “is a big boost for the whole region”.
“With significant increases in trade between Britain and Singapore in recent years, the service also provides exciting opportunities for local and regional businesses,” said Mr Westgate.
“Passengers arriving from Singapore will benefit from London Gatwick’s outstanding connections, with our newly redesigned train station providing direct access to the heart of London in less than 30 minutes, alongside services to world-famous cities such as Cambridge and Britain’s beautiful south coast.”
The addition of the Gatwick route increases the number of European destinations in the SIA network to 14 – including major ports of call like Amsterdam, Barcelona, Frankfurt and Zurich.
SIA Group posted a 24.5 per cent year-on-year increase in passenger traffic in October, amid robust passenger traffic across all its routes.
The group’s passenger network covered 119 destinations in 35 countries and territories in October 2023.
