Where is Singapore Airlines flying its Boeing 737 MAX?

Over two years ago, Singapore Airlines introduced the Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft to its fleet, with the new type taking over selected flights between Changi Airport and the Thai holiday resort island of Phuket, including the latest flat-bed Regional Business Class and Economy Class seats for the narrow-body fleet.

Many more MAXs and many more routes have been progressively added since then, with 16 of the jets now plying the regional skies in SIA colours.

While a further 21 MAXs were set to join in the years ahead, in May last year SIA announced a 20% cut in its total order for the type, meaning only a further 13 will eventually be delivered, none of which will enter service before mid-2024 at the earliest.

With the IATA northern summer 2024 schedules now confirmed, it’s a good time to revisit where the MAXs are flying on the network, whether you’re trying to snag an experience with the new cabin products, or you’re simply avoiding the type altogether!

The MAX already represents the majority of the SIA narrow-body fleet, with 2022’s confirmation that the older Boeing 737-800s (NGs) with recliner seats in Business Class now number only seven aircraft (down from nine), all of which will eventually leave the airline by late 2025.

In total, more than one in six SIA flights (16%) will be operated by a Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft during the upcoming summer timetable season.

More routes

The 737 MAX network has expanded considerably since inaugural routes to Phuket, Phnom Penh, Kuala Lumpur, Siem Reap and Brunei started in late 2021.

The fleet now flies to 27 destinations, including Cairns in Australia which clocks in at up to 6 hours 55 minutes of flight time, but with that route switching to the Airbus A350 Medium Haul from April 2024, Busan in South Korea will take the baton as the airline’s longest MAX route at 6 hours 15 minutes.

Here’s how SIA’s Boeing 737-8 MAX route network looks between January and October 2024.

The MAX has mostly replaced the airline’s older Boeing 737-800s on the network, which have retained the former SilkAir recliner seats in Business Class and lack any Wi-Fi connectivity or in-built entertainment systems.

Schedules

You can expand the schedule boxes below for each of SIA’s confirmed 737-8 MAX destinations, to see which flights the new aircraft is operating on, including timings and days of operation through to the end of the northern summer schedule on 26th October 2024.

We have also noted whether there is an alternative to the MAX on these routes, for those wishing to avoid the type.

By October 2024, SIA will have 187 weekly departures from Changi using the Boeing 737 MAX, out of a total of 1,124 weekly departures across all fleets, meaning over 16% of the airline’s flights (more than one in six) will be flown by the type.

Fun fact: By October 2024, the Boeing 737-8 MAX will be used on 30% of all Singapore Airlines flights under 5 hours duration.

Additionally 85 weekly departures (8%) are operated by the Boeing 737-800, meaning a total of 24% (one in four) of the airline’s flights will be flown by a narrow-body aircraft during the April 2024 to October 2024 period.

China routes are subject to change

You’ll probably note that Boeing 737-8 MAX services to and from Chengdu, Chongqing, Shenzhen and Xiamen are due to stop operating at the end of the current winter season, in late March 2024.

Singapore Airlines appears to be having some issues with route approvals to and from some cities in China, as we recently noted following some temporary service suspensions then restarts.

These schedules are therefore likely to change, subject to route approvals from the authorities.

We expect that these routes will actually continue to see regular Boeing 737-8 MAX service this coming summer season, in anticipation of further schedule updates in the coming weeks once approval is granted.

That would increase weekly MAX departures from Changi to over 210 per week, over 18% of the airline’s flights.

How to tell if your flight is on the MAX

Aside from the schedule tables above, Singapore Airlines identifies the Boeing 737-8 MAX in its booking engine when you search for a flight or award redemption, either through the website or mobile app.

Simply click ‘More details’ for the flight(s) displayed in the search results to reveal the aircraft type.

Note that a different identification is given for the older Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which are labelled “Boeing 737-800 NG” by SIA.

If you’re using a search tool like ExpertFlyer, you can identify the Boeing 737-8 MAX in the search results by its IATA aircraft type designator “7M8”.

If you’re checking for the Boeing 737-8 MAX on a flight tracking site like FlightRadar24, you may see it referred to by its ICAO aircraft type designator “B38M”.

Most third-party booking sites like Kayak will also clearly show if your flight is operated by the MAX.

The current SIA MAX fleet

The current Singapore Airlines fleet of 16 Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft is as shown in the table below.

Singapore Airlines Boeing 737 MAX Fleet
Registration	Age (Jan 2024)	SIA First Pax Service
9V-MBA	6.3 yrs	28 Nov 2021 (SIN-HKT)
9V-MBB	6.2 yrs	6 Dec 2021 (SIN-PNH)
9V-MBC	6.1 yrs	23 Nov 2021 (SIN-HKT)
9V-MBD	5.8 yrs	17 Dec 2021 (SIN-KUL)
9V-MBE	5.7 yrs	4 Dec 2021 (SIN-HKT)
9V-MBF	4.9 yrs	24 Nov 2021 (SIN-HKT)
9V-MBG	4.8 yrs	1 Feb 2022 (SIN-KUL)
9V-MBH	4.7 yrs	22 Mar 2022 (SIN-KUL)
9V-MBI	4.5 yrs	10 Apr 2022 (SIN-KUL)
9V-MBJ	4.5 yrs	30 Apr 2022 (SIN-KUL)
9V-MBK	4.4 yrs	2 Jun 2022 (SIN-HKT)
9V-MBL	4.3 yrs	25 Apr 2023 (SIN-REP)
9V-MBM	4.1 yrs	20 Nov 2022 (SIN-KUL)
9V-MBN	4.1 yrs	7 Jul 2022 (SIN-KUL)
9V-MBO	1.5 yrs	15 Sep 2022 (SIN-KUL)
9V-MBP	1.2 yrs	22 Dec 2022 (SIN-PNH)

The airline has not received any new Boeing 737-8 MAX deliveries for over a year, with 9V-MBP arriving in November 2022, and no further deliveries are scheduled until at least next financial year, from April 2024 onwards.

SIA’s MAX flights are ramping up next winter

Looking at provisional schedules for early January 2025, it does appear that a large ramp-up of MAX flights is on the cards for Singapore Airlines, with 35% more flights scheduled using the aircraft (over 500 weekly flights, compared to around 375 in late October 2024).

That means we could be looking at a total of 20 to 21 MAX aircraft in the SIA fleet by the end of this year to support this flying programme, suggesting that at least four or five fresh deliveries will arrive in the April – December 2024 period.

This will also coincide with the return of the oldest three SIA Boeing 737-800s to leasing companies between September and December 2024, shrinking the carrier’s fleet to only four 737-800 aircraft by the end of the year, so the MAXs will logically step in to plug this gap.

New cabin products

This big advantage when you fly on SIA’s 737 MAX rather than the 737-800 is the latest cabin products, including a flat-bed seat in Business Class, two “throne” seat options, and an upgraded experience in Economy Class including seat-back in-flight entertainment.

Wi-Fi is also available in both cabins (and remember, it’s now an ‘all-you-can-eat’ allowance in Business Class, and even in Economy for KrisFlyer members).

Here’s a to-scale representation of the cabin layout from the excellent aeroLOPA site, clearly showing the extended consoles at the two “throne” seats.

Here are our dedicated articles covering the new cabins, to help you know what to expect on board.

Do bear in mind that on routes with both MAXs and wide-body aircraft operating, like the Boeing 787-10s on Bali and Chennai, you’ll get a better experience in both cabins on the larger aircraft compared to the 737 MAX.

The differences here include direct aisle access regardless of your seat allocation in Business Class, plus a wider seat, while in Economy Class there’s more legroom and recline, plus AC charging sockets, on the wide-body jets.

These aspects may not make a huge difference on shorter routes, but as the MAXs will no doubt stretch their legs to even more distant cities in the coming years, the differences will certainly be worth noting where you have a choice on your route.

Don’t confuse the 737 MAX with the 737-800

Singapore Airlines has decided against any further cabin upgrades on its fleet of nine (now seven) Boeing 737-800s inherited from SilkAir, which will remain in the fleet until leases on those aircraft expire in 2024/25.

Where you have a choice between the MAX and the -800 on a route, it will therefore be preferable to go for the MAX where possible, especially on longer flights.

That’s because the 737-800s retain 12 recliner seats in Business Class, with little privacy between them, and a more basic Economy Class cabin with no built-in IFE system or Wi-Fi.

Here’s how the Business Class experience stacks up, based on our review in December 2022.

Passengers can stream entertainment content onto their personal device from an onboard server (when it works!), but it’s no match for the full KrisWorld system on the MAXs.

There’s further route potential for the MAX fleet

As we mentioned earlier, SIA’s Boeing 737 MAX fleet will almost double from its current level when all 13 outstanding orders have been delivered over the coming years.

Due to the predominantly short-haul and regional nature of the 737’s operation, somewhere close to a third of all SIA flights may be operated by the 737-8 MAX once the fleet is fully delivered and in service.

Singapore Airlines will certainly be playing to the versatility of the 737-8 MAX, with its 6,500km range allowing it to comfortably serve thinner routes of up to 7 hours, or be deployed seasonally on less busy city pairs in place of wide-body aircraft.

Last year, Batik Air Malaysia was operating its Boeing 737-8 MAX between Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne – a non-stop flight of 6,300km, which is around 700km further than Singapore – Mauritius or Singapore – Muscat, so the capability is clearly there.

We wouldn’t be surprised to see cities as far afield as Adelaide and Fukuoka join the roster for the 737-8 MAX as the fleet continues to grow, so watch this space for future route announcements.

Singapore Airlines is keeping its Boeing 737-8 MAX narrow-body fleet at 16 aircraft for the time being, but there looks to be a ramp-up in store later this year to potentially 20 or 21 aircraft, as older Boeing 737-800s are returned to lessors.

The MAX is to operate more than one in six of the carrier’s departures out of Changi each week this upcoming summer season, across over 20 destinations, with a good chance that three or four mainland China cities will be added to that list in the weeks ahead.

As the MAX fleet expands within Singapore Airlines, it is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid the type (if that’s your strategy), with 14 routes currently seeing exclusively 737-8 MAX operation, including Darwin, Phnom Penh, Medan and Siem Reap.

Ultimately the final fleet of 29 MAX aircraft could see the airline branching out to even longer routes, potentially including cities that formerly saw only wide-body operation, as far afield as Adelaide, or even former SIA destinations like Mauritius.

(Cover Photo: Plane’s Portrait Aviation Media / Malcolm Lu)