Summary
- Singapore Airlines will no longer serve Houston via Manchester, the United Kingdom.
- The airline will continue flying to Manchester five times a week, while also increasing its frequencies to London Gatwick Airport (LGW) to daily.
- Singapore Airlines began flying the Singapore to Houston route via Manchester in November 2016. Previously, the route stopped in Moscow, Russia.
Singapore Airlines is set to drop its fifth freedom flight between Manchester Airport (MAN) and Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) starting April 2025, concentrating on direct services between Singapore and MAN.
Focusing on serving MAN
As first reported by Sean M, a UK-based schedules analyst on X, formerly known as Twitter,
Singapore Airlineswill no longer serve its Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) – MAN – IAH route starting in April 2025.
Instead, Singapore Airlines will maintain its five weekly itineraries from SIN to MAN, while also increasing the frequency of its flights to London Gatwick Airport (LGW) to daily.
Currently, the carrier flies from SIN to LGW five times per week.
Photo: Media Works I Shutterstock
In addition to MAN and LGW, Singapore Airlines has scheduled flights from SIN to
, with 28 weekly flights to the latter airport, per data from the aviation analytics company Cirium.
The airline’s booking system corroborated the report. Searching for a flight from SIN to IAH on the carrier’s website suggested flying from SIN to either Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA) or John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) before transferring onto an Alaska Airlines or JetBlue flight, respectively, to IAH.
Singapore Airlines has been serving the route with an Airbus A350-900 fitted with 42 business class seats, 24 premium economy, and 187 economy class seats.
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Running for eight years
Up until October 2016, Singapore Airlines used to serve its fifth freedom route via Moscow Domodedovo Mikhail Lomonosov Airport (DME) with a Boeing 777-300ER. Similarly, the airline had scheduled five weekly flights on its SIN – DME – IAH route.
By November 2016, the airline switched the stop from DME to MAN, becoming the carrier’s first-ever transatlantic route from the United Kingdom.
Photo: Bradley Caslin | Shutterstock
During the pandemic, Singapore Airlines stopped serving the fifth freedom route, operating under flight SQ52 and the return itinerary SQ51, between March 2020 and December 2021.
In addition to the flight from MAN to IAH, Singapore Airlines has three other fifth freedom itineraries:
- SIN – Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) – Barcelona El Prat Airport (BCN)
-
SIN – Frankfurt Airport (FRA) –
- SIN – Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT) – Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
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Replacing MAN
However, while the route has been running for almost a decade, barring the pandemic-induced pause, some analysts thought that Singapore Airlines could have routed the flight from SIN to IAH via another airport in Europe.
Preferably, another Star Alliance hub. Speaking to Simple Flying under the condition of anonymity, an airline network planner and industry commentator not associated with Singapore Airlines remarked that the carrier could have operated the flight via Brussels Airport (BRU) instead.
“It is a Star Alliance hub, and Brussels Airlines’ African and European routes could have fed Houston flights. It would also help to overcome Brussels Airlines’ weak North American network.”
Photo: Fabian Joy | Shutterstock
Another option could have been Zurich Airport (ZRH), another major Star Alliance hub, namely the home of Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS), which has no direct connections to IAH.
FRA and Munich Airport (MUC), two Lufthansa hubs, as well as Istanbul Airport (IST), the main airport of Turkish Airlines, have direct flights to IAH.
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