Singapore Airlines resumes Surabaya flights, adds frequency for Jakarta, Bali

Singapore Airlines (SIA) is set to resume flights to Surabaya by taking out one of two daily flights currently being served by its fully owned subsidiary, SilkAir. 

Starting on July 26, the new route will use an Airbus A 330-300 widebody aircraft with 30 business-class seats and 255 economy-class seats. 

Flight SQ930 departs Singapore’s Changi International Airport at 7:50 a.m local time (6:50 a.m. Jakarta time) and arrives at Juanda International Airport at 9:10 a.m. The returning flight SQ931 departs at 10:30 a.m. and arrives in Singapore at 13:35 p.m. local time.

“This will increase Singapore Airlines and SilkAir’s joint capacity along this route by 48 percent,” Singapore Airlines general manager for Indonesia, David Lau, told reporters at a media luncheon on Wednesday.

SilkAir currently uses Airbus A320/319 narrowbody aircraft with eight business-class seats and 128 economy-class seats, he told The Jakarta Post at the luncheon.

“Actually, Singapore Airlines used to fly to Surabaya before being replaced by SilkAir in 2005,” he said. 

“We handed over the route to SilkAir because Surabaya needed frequency but we did not have sufficient rights based on the air service agreement between both countries.”

Lau said a new agreement reached in March now allowed Singapore Airlines to fly the route. Singapore Airlines public relations manager in Indonesia, Glory Henriette, said the air service agreement regulated the number of seats that would be allocated for each route. “We used to serve Surabaya with larger aircrafts but the passengers needed frequency so we used SilkAir’s smaller aircraft,” she told the Post.

On July 26, the airline will also add a ninth daily flight to Jakarta and a fourth daily flight to Bali.

Flight SQ964 departs Changi at 4:25 p.m. local time and arrives at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at 5:10 p.m. The returning flight, SQ965, departs Jakarta at 6:10 p.m. and arrives at 8:45 p.m. local time.

When asked why the ninth flight used an A330-300 instead of Boeing 777-200/300, Glory said the market demanded more business-class seats while most 777-200/300 had a three-class configuration.

For its Bali route, SQ940 to Ngurah Rai International Airport departs Singapore at 7 a.m. local time and arrives at 9:35 a.m. The additional flight, SQ949, leaves Bali at 9:45 p.m. and arrives in Singapore at 12:15 a.m. the following day.

The additional flight to Bali will use a 777-200, which has a two-class configuration with a capacity of 323 seats.

SIA manager in Bali Eric Eng said that Bali had become a place for travel and business for Singaporeans. 

“Many Singaporeans are of Chinese descent. They love seeing Chinese elements in Balinese culture as well as in its architecture, arts and textiles,” he said. (Jakarta Post)