SIA to launch non-stop flights to San Francisco from Oct 23

SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) will soon launch non-stop flights between Singapore and San Francisco, and will add a second daily service to Los Angeles in an expansion of its US operations.

SIA said on Thursday that the non-stop Singapore-San Francisco flights will be operated on a daily basis with effect from Oct 23, 2016 using Airbus A350-900 aircraft.

SIA currently serves San Francisco twice-daily, with one flight operating via Hong Kong and the other via Incheon, Seoul. With the launch of non-stop Singapore-San Francisco services, the Singapore-Seoul-San Francisco flight will be re-routed to operate as a Singapore-Seoul-Los Angeles service, also from Oct 23, 2016.

This will result in a second daily service to Los Angeles, complementing existing flights that operate on a Singapore-Tokyo Narita-Los Angeles routing, noted SIA.

Flying time for the new Singapore-San Francisco services will be between 14:35 hours and 17:45 hours depending on direction and time of year, over a journey of around 13,600 kilometres. They will be the longest flights in SIA's network until 2018, when a new variant of the A350-900 will enter service, enabling even longer flights between Singapore and both Los Angeles and New York.

SIA is the launch customer for the new variant, the A350-900ULR, with seven of the type on order.

SIA senior vice president (marketing planning) Lee Wen Fen said: "Our customers have been asking us to offer more US services and we are pleased to be able to do so. With new non-stop San Francisco flights and the increase in frequency to Los Angeles, customers will have two flights to choose from each day to both of these popular US West Coast destinations."

On Thursday, SIA said it will suspend services to Sao Paulo in Brazil as a result of the "sustained weak performance" of the route. SIA operates three weekly flights to Sao Paulo via Barcelona and the last flight will be operated on Oct 20, 2016.