Singapore Airlines is reducing its London Heathrow flight frequencies by 25% in early 2026, but A380 capacity is retained, including on some SQ318/321 flights.
Singapore Airlines has made some changes to its London Heathrow flight schedule for the mid-January to early March 2026 period, with a surprise reduction in frequencies on its most financially lucrative route between the Lion City and the UK capital.
This reduces overall service by 25%, from 28 to 21 weekly flights – dropping from four daily flights to three. However, the airline will maintain its Airbus A380 service at 14 flights per week, or two daily departures in each direction.
The schedule changes will result in aircraft upgrades for some SQ318/321 passengers, with selected Boeing 777-300ER services operating on the Airbus A380 instead during this period – offering those booked in First Class the opportunity to experience the carrier’s renowned Suites cabin instead.
(Photo: Heathrow Airport Limited)
The schedule
Singapore Airlines usually operates four daily flights between Changi Airport and London Heathrow Airport, two using the Airbus A380 and two using the Boeing 777-300ER.
However, for over six weeks in early 2026, covering the 18th January to 4th March 2026 period, that schedule is being adjusted with an overall decrease in operation from 28 flights per week in each direction to 21 flights per week.
There are also shuffles in aircraft type allocation on some services, which could be good news for some passengers already booked on SQ318/321 flights, some of whom will now see an upgrade from the Boeing 777-300ER to the Airbus A380.
SQ318/321 route (year-round Boeing 777-300ER):
- Cancelled: 18th January – 4th February 2026
- Airbus A380 operates: 5th February – 4th March 2026
- Returns to Boeing 777-300ER: 5th March 2026 onwards
SQ308/319 route (year-round Airbus A380):
- Cancelled: 5th February – 4th March 2026
- Resumes: 5th March 2026 onwards
Here’s how the revised schedule looks for the first swathe of service changes on this route, where the airline simply axes a daily SQ318/321 rotation from mid-January to early February next year.
Singapore London Heathrow
18 Jan 2026 – 4 Feb 2026
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
 |
SQ306 777-300ER |
||||||||
| SIN 01:10 |
LHR 07:25 |
||||||||
| Duration: 14:15 | |||||||||
|
SQ308 A380 |
||||||||
| SIN 09:00 |
LHR 15:20 |
||||||||
| Duration: 14:20 | |||||||||
|
SQ322 A380 |
||||||||
| SIN 23:45 |
LHR 05:55* |
||||||||
| Duration: 14:10 | |||||||||
* Next day
London Heathrow Singapore
18 Jan 2026 – 4 Feb 2026
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
|
SQ305 777-300ER |
||||||||
| LHR 09:10 |
SIN 06:00* |
||||||||
| Duration: 12:50 | |||||||||
|
SQ317 A380 |
||||||||
| LHR 10:55 |
SIN 07:50* |
||||||||
| Duration: 12:55 | |||||||||
|
SQ319 A380 |
||||||||
| LHR 20:35 |
SIN 17:30* |
||||||||
| Duration: 12:55 | |||||||||
* Next day
There will only be three London Heathrow flights during this period, with the removal of SQ318/321 services, though the two daily Airbus A380 services (SQ308/319 and SQ322/317) will still operate, meaning superjumbo capacity is retained for these couple of weeks.
For the following month, from 5th February to 4th March 2026, it’s an A380 service SQ308/319 that gets the chop – but SIA will then both reinstate and upgauge its SQ318/321 services to a daily A380.
Singapore London Heathrow
5 Feb 2026 – 4 Mar 2026
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
|
SQ306 777-300ER |
||||||||
| SIN 01:10 |
LHR 07:25 |
||||||||
| Duration: 14:15 | |||||||||
|
SQ318 A380 |
||||||||
| SIN 12:45 |
LHR 19:10 |
||||||||
| Duration: 14:25 | |||||||||
|
SQ322 A380 |
||||||||
| SIN 23:45 |
LHR 05:55* |
||||||||
| Duration: 14:10 | |||||||||
* Next day
London Heathrow Singapore
5 Feb 2026 – 4 Mar 2026
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
|
SQ305 777-300ER |
||||||||
| LHR 09:10 |
SIN 06:00* |
||||||||
| Duration: 12:50 | |||||||||
|
SQ317 A380 |
||||||||
| LHR 10:55 |
SIN 07:50* |
||||||||
| Duration: 12:55 | |||||||||
|
SQ321 A380 |
||||||||
| LHR 22:05 |
SIN 19:00* |
||||||||
| Duration: 12:55 | |||||||||
* Next day
This should allow those booked on affected SQ308/319 flights to be re-accommodated onto SQ318/321 in the same cabin class with the same product standard (e.g. Suites).
(Photo: MainlyMiles)
Overall weekly seat capacity on SIA’s London Heathrow route will fall from 10,290 per week to 8,442 per week between 18th January 2026 and 4th March 2026, an 18% reduction.
Other operators British Airways and Qantas will retain their usual Singapore – London Heathrow schedule, twice daily and once daily respectively, during this period.
Regular schedule from 5th March 2026
From Thursday 5th March 2026, Singapore Airlines will restore its regular flight schedule on the London Heathrow route.
This sees twice daily Airbus A380 service (SQ308/319 and SQ322/317) and twice daily Boeing 777-300ER service (SQ306/305 and SQ318/321), as outlined below.
Singapore London Heathrow
From 5 Mar 2026
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
|
SQ306 777-300ER |
||||||||
| SIN 01:10 |
LHR 07:25 |
||||||||
| Duration: 14:15 | |||||||||
|
SQ308 A380 |
||||||||
| SIN 09:00 |
LHR 15:20 |
||||||||
| Duration: 14:20 | |||||||||
|
SQ318 777-300ER |
||||||||
| SIN 12:45 |
LHR 19:10 |
||||||||
| Duration: 14:25 | |||||||||
|
SQ322 A380 |
||||||||
| SIN 23:45 |
LHR 05:55* |
||||||||
| Duration: 14:10 | |||||||||
* Next day
London Heathrow Singapore
From 5 Mar 2026
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
|
SQ305 777-300ER |
||||||||
| LHR 09:10 |
SIN 06:00* |
||||||||
| Duration: 12:50 | |||||||||
|
SQ317 A380 |
||||||||
| LHR 10:55 |
SIN 07:50* |
||||||||
| Duration: 12:55 | |||||||||
|
SQ319 A380 |
||||||||
| LHR 20:35 |
SIN 17:30* |
||||||||
| Duration: 12:55 | |||||||||
|
SQ321 777-300ER |
||||||||
| LHR 22:05 |
SIN 19:00* |
||||||||
| Duration: 12:55 | |||||||||
* Next day
A similar schedule provisionally continues for the summer 2026 season, with some minor timing variations.
SIA’s ‘cash cow’ route
Reducing frequencies to and from London Heathrow is a surprising move for Singapore Airlines, and not something we usually see, aside from the obvious reductions during the COVID-19 period.
Takeoff and landing slots at the airport are almost impossible to come by (SIA tries to secure more almost every year), and the route is widely known as the airline’s ‘cash cow’, earning the highest revenue of any route pre-COVID and without a doubt today as well.
The carrier was netting over US$2 million (S$2.7 million) per day in revenue on Heathrow flights alone in 2019, 33% more than it made on Singapore – Sydney (S$2.0 million per day) and 68% more than third place Jakarta (S$1.6 million per day).
That’s always made London a high priority destination for Singapore Airlines in terms of capacity and the latest cabin products, so we suspect this temporary reduction in services may be for other operational reasons, like fleet constraints.
The airline certainly won’t be making the reduction permanent, since it would then lose its coveted slots at Heathrow.
SIA is also flying to London Gatwick
As you may recall, Singapore Airlines began flying five times weekly Airbus A350 flights to and from London’s second airport Gatwick back in June 2024.
Flights were ramped up to daily from late October 2024, an original ambition that was then made possible by the allocation of additional landing slots to the carrier.
(Photo: Gatwick Airport)
While it’s a less popular option for most of our readers, don’t discount it when it comes to award searches.
For the month of February 2026, when these Heathrow service reductions are in full effect, there are still 205 immediately-confirmable Saver Business award seats available to and from London Gatwick at the time of writing.
When you consider that Gatwick has only 56 flights (both directions) during the month, that’s decent average Business Class Saver award space.
Here’s how SIA’s Gatwick schedule looks for the upcoming northern winter season.
Singapore London Gatwick
26 Oct 2025 – 28 Mar 2026
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
 |
SQ312 A350 LH |
||||||||
| SIN 23:55 |
LGW 06:25* |
||||||||
| Duration: 14:30 | |||||||||
* Next day
London Gatwick Singapore
26 Oct 2025 – 28 Mar 2026
| Days | |||||||||
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S | |||
|
SQ309 A350 LH |
||||||||
| LGW 09:20 |
SIN 06:15* |
||||||||
| Duration: 12:55 | |||||||||
* Next day
KrisFlyer award rates
Here’s a reminder of the number of KrisFlyer miles needed for the Singapore – London route.
| KrisFlyer Redemption (one-way) Singapore ⇄ London |
||
| Saver | Advantage | |
| Economy | 42,000 | 70,000 |
| Premium Economy | 71,000 | n/a |
| Business | 103,500 | 123,000 |
| First / Suites | 141,000 | 225,500 |
These rates apply to both Heathrow and Gatwick flights.
Singapore Airlines is temporarily reducing its flight schedule to and from London Heathrow for nearly seven weeks between 18th January and 4th March 2026, a surprising move on its ‘cash cow’ route, where the carrier is usually trying to increase its presence, rather than scale it back.
There will only be three daily flights on the route during this period, and while twice daily Airbus A380 service is not affected, do note that the type switches to the SQ318/321 pairing for some of this period.
Daily SIA flights to and from London Gatwick airport continue as normal this winter, and this is potentially the route to look at for better Business Class award space.
(Cover Photo: Heathrow Airport Limited)
