SIA to fly non-stop to Seattle from next Sept
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The Airbus A350-900 aircraft will be used for SIA's non-stop flights to Seattle, which will start from Sept 3 next year. Depending on season and wind direction, the flight to Seattle may take between 14 and 16 hours.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Karamjit Kaur
National carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA) will start flying non-stop to Seattle from Sept 3 next year, its fourth such destination in the United States.
As part of a move to cash in on a growing Singapore-US air traffic market, SIA launched a non-stop service to San Francisco in October 2016 and to Newark, near New York, last month. The airline's non-stop service to Los Angeles starts today.
SIA's statement yesterday about the new move, which confirms a Straits Times report last week, said the Seattle flights will initially be operated three times a week and raised to four times a week in October next year.
Airbus A350-900 aircraft will be flown on the route, and there will be 42 business class, 24 premium economy class and 187 economy class seats.
Unlike the flights to Los Angeles and Newark, both of which need to be operated with the A350-900 ultra long-range plane, the flight to Seattle, like that to San Francisco, does not require it.
Depending on season and wind direction, the flight to Seattle may take between 14 and 16 hours.
Subject to regulatory approvals, the flight - SQ28 - will take off from Singapore at 9.25am every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and arrive in Seattle at 9.05am on the same day (all local times).
"Our new non-stop flights to Seattle are another demonstration of our commitment to expand our operations in the important US market and grow our network reach," said SIA chief executive officer Goh Choon Phong.
"The new services will also further strengthen the Singapore hub by providing customers faster and more convenient connectivity from key markets, such as South-east Asia, South Asia and Australasia to North America," Mr Goh added.
The airline said the new Seattle flights will complement its existing services to the US cities of Houston, Los Angeles, New York (both JFK and Newark airports) and San Francisco.
As part of SIA's expansion in the US, existing non-stop services to San Francisco will be increased from seven to 10 flights a week, starting on Nov 28.
In all, SIA will operate 53 flights a week to the US by the end of this year, including 27 non-stop Singapore-US services. With the introduction of the Seattle flights next year, total US weekly flights will rise to 57.
