SIA at 75% of pre-COVID capacity in India; eyes 100% by end-2022

Representative image.

The SIA Group (which includes Singapore Airlines and Scoot) is back to almost 75 percent of its pre-COVID capacity in India, and is hoping to progressively increase this to 100 percent by the end of this calendar year.

“This is subject to regulatory approvals and several other contributing factors such as market demand,” Sy Yen Chen, General Manager, India, Singapore Airlines, said in a recent interview.

Chen added that Delhi is back to pre-COVID levels in terms of seat capacity, while Mumbai will be brought back to 100 per cent of its pre-COVID levels in the weeks and months to come. The SIA GM clarified that the airline was operating the Airbus A380 aircraft from Mumbai and Delhi in the pre-COVID times as well, so there has been no new/further addition to seat capacities in either city. The Airbus A380, which is the largest commercial aircraft in the world, returned to Mumbai in March and the following month started operating to Delhi as well.

Before the outbreak of COVID, the SIA Group which then included Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and Scoot operated 145 flights to and from 13 cities across India. Today, the Group which includes Singapore Airlines and Scoot operates 111 flights from 13 cities. In 2021, SilkAir was integrated with Singapore Airlines.

The airline launched the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) services from Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai on November 29, 2021. VTL services allowed fully vaccinated passengers to enter Singapore without being quarantined. On March 16, 2022, the Group converted all its flights from India to VTL services, until India’s international flight ban was finally lifted on March 27 this year, Chen said, adding that since April 1 this year, Singapore has done away with the VTL framework. “Now, fully vaccinated travellers do not require a pre-departure COVID test or any on-arrival quarantine to enter Singapore,” he said.

SIA also introduced the new Boeing 737-8 cabin product from Hyderabad, Kochi and Kolkata in January this year. With this product, SIA now offers lie-flat business class seats from all eight Indian cities it operates to. Generally, lie-flat business class seats are available on larger aircraft like the Boeing 777 and Airbus 340, 350 and 380. SIA is among a handful of airlines globally, including flydubai, that offer lie-flat beds in business class on its Boeing 737 MAX.