Singapore Airlines applied to operate daily flights between Changi and London Gatwick next summer, but was rejected by slot regulators and will only operate five flights a week.
Last month, Singapore Airlines announced new services to London, with Airbus A350s to operate non-stop flights between Changi and the British capital’s second airport, Gatwick, for the first time from June 2024, five days a week. became.
However, securing takeoff and landing slots at crowded European airports is not easy. The Gatwick news comes after SIA had already failed to secure additional daily flights to and from the popular Heathrow airport.
SIA wanted daily flights to Gatwick Airport
Gatwick’s arrival and departure regulator, Airport Coordination Limited (ACL), said in a report that the Gatwick route was not 100% lucky, as Singapore Airlines had also initially applied to operate the service. every day Flight at the airport.
In the end, of the 420 slots the airline requested for the 2024 northern summer season, only 300 were awarded, enough to operate five flights a week.
Unfortunately, SIA will not be given landing and take-off slots at Gatwick on Wednesdays and Thursdays, which means SIA will not be operating flights from Changi to London Secondary Airport on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Singapore Airlines’ new route schedule looks like this:
Singapore london gatwick
June 21, 2024 – October 26, 2024
| day to day | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
 |
SQ310 A350LH |
||||||||
| sin 23:55 |
LGW 06:25* |
||||||||
| Duration: 13:30 | |||||||||
* the next day
no slot assigned
london gatwick Singapore
June 22, 2024 – October 26, 2024
| day to day | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
|
SQ309 A350LH |
||||||||
| LGW 10:15 |
sin 06:20* |
||||||||
| Recording time: 13:05 | |||||||||
* the next day
no slot assigned
Had all 420 slots been approved at Gatwick, these flights would have been a fifth daily option for the airline’s customers in London, but in reality the overall number of flights, including Heathrow flights, would have been a weekly The number of flights will increase from 28 to 33 per week.
It is also interesting to note that Singapore Airlines is not taking full advantage of Gatwick’s approval. Slots will be granted from March 31, 2024, but the actual start of the route will be from mid-June 2024.
For a hub-and-spoke airline like Singapore Airlines, daily flights are key to providing optimal connectivity.
Currently, around 60% of passengers on SIA’s London Heathrow flights do not fly to or from Singapore, but simply through the airline’s Changi hub, with the top five ‘actual’ destinations or departures being Sydney, Melbourne. , Brisbane, Bali and Perth, according to data from Sirium.
This is no doubt a similar pattern on Gatwick flights, and a daily option would have definitely helped here, as it did with KrisFlyer award tickets.
Gatwick Airport is Europe’s busiest single-runway airport
Like Heathrow, Gatwick operates at maximum capacity, but with only one runway, the number of take-offs and landings per hour is limited to 55, with noise regulations further limiting the number of flights at night. It’s going to be tough.
Despite this, Gatwick does a good job of moving the plane.
It is Europe’s busiest single-runway airport, handling 24,600 commercial takeoffs and landings in September 2023. This equates to his 88% of the traffic that Changi handled in the same month. two Runway!
the timing wasn’t perfect
Another issue that slot regulators must grapple with is juggling different applications within five-minute slot windows throughout the day to avoid exceeding both runway capacity and terminal capacity.
This means that airlines that are approved for slots are not always able to operate at the desired timing, and SIA was no exception at Gatwick.
According to the ACL report, the airline won 40% of its slots on time and an additional 10% just five minutes after the requested time.
However, for the remaining 50% of slots, there was an even bigger difference.
30% of the allocated slots were 15-25 minutes away from the requested time, and the remaining 20% were 30-55 minutes away.
What about the winter season?
Singapore Airlines is already planning to operate the London-Gatwick route five times a week for the 2024/2025 northern winter season, from late October 2024 to late March 2025.
as Current position If you arrive with the airline at Gatwick before then, SIA will be entitled to use these five weekly slots without making a new application, but if the airline still increases its daily services during the season. If you want to do so, you will need to apply again. It may not be successful.
The current SIA winter schedule for this route from late October 2024 is as follows:
Singapore london gatwick
October 27, 2024 – March 28, 2025
| day to day | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
|
SQ310 A350LH |
||||||||
| sin 23:55 |
LGW 06:25* |
||||||||
| Recording time: 14:30 | |||||||||
* the next day
Possible future request slots
london gatwick Singapore
October 27, 2024 – March 28, 2025
| day to day | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
|
SQ309 A350LH |
||||||||
| LGW 09:20 |
sin 06:15* |
||||||||
| Recording time: 12:55 | |||||||||
* the next day
Possible future request slots
North terminal is relatively quiet
Apart from runway capacity, another factor in slot approval is terminal passenger capacity.
As Singapore Airlines confirmed to us last month, these new Gatwick flights will operate round-trip. north terminal.
The good news is that, according to ACL data, Singapore Airlines flights arrive at the North Terminal during times when they operate at approximately 65% of maximum capacity (6am to 6:30am) and arrive at the terminal’s departure times. This indicates that the departure time will be even quieter. Occupancy remains at approximately 50% (10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.).
This should bode well for Singapore Airlines immigration times for arriving passengers, security for departing passengers, and terminal and lounge crowds.
Singapore Airlines has not yet confirmed which lounges it will direct eligible passengers to at Gatwick, including Business Class passengers, PPS Club and KrisFlyer Elite Gold members, but the most likely ones are: probably Airline options:
There’s even more good news at Gatwick Airport.
The North Terminal is currently undergoing a multi-million pound refurbishment, which will see the departure lounge modernized. “Modern seat” Has a power outlet for charging personal devices and is differentiated “Mood Zone” Relax, work or shop.
Construction is expected to be completed in early 2024, and is expected to make the experience even more ‘Changi-esque’ for SIA’s discerning customers by June 2024.
KrisFlyer benefits (cheaper tax)
These are the KrisFlyer miles required for the Singapore to London Gatwick route.
| KrisFlyer redemption (One Way) Singapore ⇄ London |
||
| saver | advantage | |
| economy | 42,000 | 70,000 |
| premium economy | 71,000 | Not applicable |
| work | 103,500 | 123,000 |
As we highlighted last month, award space on this new route has been very good so far, with up to six Saver awards available in the business class cabin on some dates.
One of the benefits of flying from Gatwick rather than Heathrow on a KrisFlyer award ticket is; lower taxes and fees As we highlighted last month, it is being enforced.
Award tickets departing from the UK from Gatwick are still subject to very high Air Passenger Tax (APD), but taxes and fees are still £35.24 (approximately S$60) cheaper than from Heathrow.
That’s not because APD is cheap (though they are the same thing), but because Gatwick’s passenger service charge is just £20.57, while Heathrow’s passenger service charge is a hefty £55.81.
SIA KrisFlyer Award Taxes and Fees
Business class, outside the UK
| airport | APD | P.S.C. | total |
| london heathrow | 202 pounds | 55.81 pounds | 257.81 pounds (~S$431) |
| london gatwick |
202 pounds | 20.57 pounds | 222.57 pounds (~S$373) |
That makes Gatwick the cheapest UK airport to redeem KrisFlyer miles, but let’s be honest. APD still hurts!
Connectivity at Gatwick
Gatwick Airport is well-connected to central London, with an integrated rail station in the southern terminal serving a variety of train stations including London Victoria, London Bridge, London Blackfriars, London St Pancras, City Thameslink and London Station. There are up to 15 regular trains to the station per hour. Farringdon station.
Most services take less than 35 minutes, with Gatwick Express having the fastest time. in 31 minutes.
For those heading into the city by train, here’s how it compares to other London airports.
The integrated rail station at the airport’s south terminal (a five-minute monorail ride from the north terminal used by SIA) has recently undergone a £250 million refurbishment.
In terms of flight connections, Gatwick Airport unfortunately offers few Star Alliance connections for Singapore Airlines flights wishing to connect on a single itinerary across Europe.
However, as an airport primarily for leisure travelers, there are a number of low-cost airlines such as easyJet serving a wide range of destinations across Europe for those who wish to self-connect.
British Airways also operates a second hub at Gatwick Airport, primarily serving European leisure destinations such as Bordeaux, Marrakech, Salzburg and Santorini. If you have Avios points, you can redeem them for great deals.
SIA’s European Network
Despite not being able to launch as many flights to London Gatwick this year as it had hoped, Singapore AirlinesHighest flight frequency ever Traveling to and from Europe.
From late June 2024, Changi Airport will operate 111 weekly flights to 14 airports, carrying a total of 33,046 passengers in both directions.
Singapore Airlines European Destinations
Summer 2024
| destination | frequency |
| Amsterdam | 7 times a week |
| Barcelona | 5 times a week |
| Brussels | 4 times a week (From April) |
| copenhagen | 7 times a week |
| Frankfurt | 14 times a week |
| istanbul | 4 times a week |
| london gatwick | 5 times a week (from June) |
| london heathrow | 28 days a week |
| manchester | 5 times a week |
| milan | 7 times a week |
| munich | 7 times a week |
| Paris | 14 times a week |
| Rome | 4 times a week |
| zurich | 7 times a week |
This compares to 103 flights, totaling 33,817 seats, pre-pandemic, based on the June 2019 schedule.
This amounts to a 7% increase in the number of flights. largely The full recovery of passenger capacity is surprising given that the airline had permanently suspended two European routes to Düsseldorf and Stockholm due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Last month, Singapore Airlines announced new five-a-week non-stop flights to and from London Gatwick Airport, 47 kilometers south of the British capital, but as it said at the time, this was a failed “Plan B” for the airline. ” It was something like “ To secure additional landing slots at the more popular Heathrow Airport.
It is understood that the airline’s application to Gatwick Airport also did not go as expected. The slots regulator only approved five times a week, 70% of the daily service SIA had sought.
Hopefully, Singapore Airlines will be able to secure daily operations at Gatwick or more slots at Heathrow in future scheduling seasons.
(Cover photo: Shutterstock)