SIA resumes flights to six cities, passenger capacity to hit 11% of pre-Covid levels by Nov

SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) and regional wing SilkAir have reinstated flights to six cities and increased the frequency of selected services in their passenger network from August to November, SIA said on Monday.

The six cities are: Cebu in the Philippines, Istanbul in Turkey, Milan in Italy, Perth in Australia, Phnom Penh in Cambodia and Taipei in Taiwan.

By the end of November, the SIA group's passenger capacity will reach about 11 per cent of its capacity in January before the onset of the Covid-19 outbreak, SIA said.

SIA said its flagship carrier and SilkAir will continue to adjust capacity to match the demand for international air travel.

SIA, SilkAir and Scoot customers can transit through Changi Airport from approved points to destinations in the SIA group network. However, due to regulatory requirements, transfers to destinations in mainland China are currently not allowed, SIA said.

Transit flights through Singapore are only for outbound journeys from a list of cities approved for transit through Singapore. Passengers will not be able to transit from other points in the SIA group network through Singapore into these cities.

However, customers with a domestic transfer within the same country or within the Schengen area, connecting to an airline within the SIA group, are allowed to transit in Singapore to destinations in the approved list of cities.

Eligible customers can book a return flight only if both the point of origin and the final destination are in the approved list.

SIA added that due to further restrictions imposed by the Australian government, its flagship carrier will not operate passenger services from Singapore to Melbourne from July 1 to Oct 24. However, flights from Melbourne to Singapore during the period are still operating.

The airline will work with customers affected by the changes to make alternate travel arrangements, it said.

In a separate statement on Tuesday, SIA said it has automatically extended all PPS Club and KrisFlyer Elite memberships expiring between March 2020 and February 2021 by 12 months, and introduced new initiatives to make it easier for members to earn status credits. Those with memberships expiring between March 2021 and February 2022 will need to accrue just half the PPS Value or Elite miles required during their membership year to retain their status as members. In addition, from Sept 1 to Oct 15, PPS Club and KrisFlyer Elite members can earn PPS Value or Elite miles on non-air spend and activities, which will count towards the renewal of their membership statuses. SIA also extended the validity of all PPS Rewards and Elite Gold Rewards due to expire up to March 2021, and the validity of PPS Club Gift Vouchers issued in 2019 to December 2020, as well as the validity of KrisFlyer Elite miles expiring between April and December 2020 by between six and 12 months. The airline said it will continue to review its loyalty programmes and membership conditions where necessary.

Separately, SIA's budget arm Scoot on Tuesday said it was reinstating flights to seven more destinations this month.

They include Yogyakarta, one of six Indonesian destinations previously operated by SilkAir, which are being transferred to Scoot. The Singapore-Yogyakarta route will be the first among the six to commence operations, and is scheduled to start on Sept 29.

The budget airline also said it has resumed the pre-ordering of meals on flights, albeit with a limited menu.

SIA shares were trading at S$3.62 by the midday break on Wednesday, down S$0.03 or 0.8 per cent.