Travellers at Changi Airport can expect more flights to popular destinations in the region, as airlines ramp up for the annual peak travel season.
About 90 new flights a week, offering more than 8,000 weekly one-way seats from Singapore to 10 cities across Asia, will be added progressively from now until the end of the year.
About two-thirds of the capacity growth is on routes to China and India, Changi Airport Group said.
Cities with more flights to be added include Dalian, Fuzhou and Xiamen in China, as well as Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai in India.
Airlines are also adding flights to Luang Prabang in Laos, Yangon in Myanmar and Cebu in the Philippines.
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More services from Singapore
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TO CHINA: Airlines are adding 16 new weekly services - 3,000 one-way seats - to Dalian, Fuzhou and Xiamen. Scoot has started new bi-weekly services to the port city of Dalian via Qingdao, while Xiamen Airlines will add three weekly services to Xiamen, bringing the total to 17 a week. Fuzhou will see a significant increase in capacity with Xiamen Airlines doubling its Singapore-Fuzhou services to twice a day, while SilkAir will make its foray into the city with four services a week.
TO INDIA: Air India Express will fly four times a week to Kolkata and increase frequency on the Singapore-Chennai sector from five times a week to daily. Jet Airways will start a new daily Singapore-Bangalore service next month. The addition of these 13 weekly services will offer travellers 2,300 more weekly one-way seats.
TO SOUTH-EAST ASIA: SilkAir has started thrice weekly services to Luang Prabang via Vientiane, doubling the weekly seat capacity between Singapore and Laos. Myanmar National Airlines will begin five additional weekly services to Yangon next month, bringing its total services to the city to 12 a week. There will be eight more services a week between Singapore and Cebu, with Philippines AirAsia and Philippine Airlines both launching new flights.
With the new services, the number of weekly scheduled flights at Changi is expected to cross 7,000, for the first time, by the end of the year.
The numbers are based on schedules pre-filed by carriers for what is known as the northern winter season which started last week and ends in March.
Changi's managing director (air hub development) Lim Ching Kiat told The Straits Times: "Building on the healthy momentum of intra- Asia travel which has been driving Changi Airport's passenger traffic growth so far this year, we are pleased to see the strengthening of our network to Asia in the coming weeks."
Changi will continue to support airlines in their growth plans so that passengers can enjoy more varied and convenient flight options, "augmenting Singapore's position as a leading air hub", he said.
Between January and September, traffic to and from Singapore and China grew 15.3 per cent year-on- year, while traffic to India increased by 4.2 per cent.
Overall, Changi Airport handled 43.5 million passengers in the first nine months of the year, 6.2 per cent more than the total traffic for the same period last year.
Industry experts say that the increase in flights should bring airfares down for holidaymakers - especially for those who are willing to travel on less popular days and times.
Travellers like Mrs Agatha Tan, 80, are enjoying the benefits of more flight choices from Singapore.
The retired nursing officer, who is now in Phuket, Thailand, said: "Fares for regional flights are very attractive these days which means more holidays for me."
She said: "I paid $180 all in for my SilkAir flight to Phuket and will be travelling again to Bangkok in January on Jetstar Asia. I paid under $200 for that flight as well."
