As a result of the COVID-19 situation, we have seen Singapore Airlines cut capacity by up to 96% initially. There’s some good news now that the airline has added more destinations and flights to its operating network from Jun 2020. Even with the addition of cities to the operating network, this still represents a cut in 94% of the planned flights by Singapore Airlines.
This is how the refreshed network will look like from Jun 2020, with cities such as Amsterdam, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Melbourne and Osaka being added to the map:
Despite this, do note that our borders are not fully permeable to travellers yet. In fact, Singapore is still in the process of establishing ‘fast lane’ arrangements with other countries. As of now, only six cities in China (Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang) enjoy this privilege, and the Singapore government is in talks with other countries, namely South Korea, New Zealand, Australia and Malaysia, to establish similar arrangements for travellers too.
As of 2 Jun 2020, passengers are allowed to transit through Singapore, subject to approval from authorities. This represents a start of the gradual reopening of operations at Changi Airport.
It will still be some time before leisure travel will become permissible, mainly due to border restrictions being imposed globally by many countries. That being said, the establishment of fast lane arrangements and allowing transit passengers through Changi is definitely a good start on the road to recovery for the travel industry.