SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) will resume flights to Dubai, Tokyo-Haneda, Moscow and Munich, and increase the frequency of flights to the US, Europe and South Africa from January 2021.

 

In particular, the carrier will resume non-stop daily flights from Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York to Singapore from Jan 18 next year.

 

Calling it a " significant increase" of its existing US flight schedule, Joey Seow, regional vice-president for the Americas, said on Friday: " We are seeing some promising signs for recovery in international air travel, particularly with the start of the vaccine inoculation programme."

 

Mr Seow added: " Our commitment to the US market remains strong, and we will continue to invest in building our schedule and network to accommodate a longer-term return to travel as market conditions improve."

 

SIA will also be carrying vaccines, according to The Straits Times. The carrier said in its Friday statement that it expects " significant" cargo traffic on each of the expanded services, primarily serving time-sensitive, high-value freight sectors such as pharmaceuticals, technology and fresh produce.

 

On the routes departing from John F Kennedy International Airport in New York and San Francisco International Airport, SIA will operate Airbus A350-900 Ultra Long-Range aircraft that come with 67 business class and 94 premium economy seats.

 

On routes departing from Los Angeles International Airport, SIA will operate three-cabin A350-900 LH aircraft which can accommodate 42 business class, 24 premium economy class and 187 economy class passengers.

 

SIA said all its aircraft are equipped with the HEPA airflow management systems eliminating up to 99.97 per cent of bacteria, viruses and particulate matter from cabin air, which is replaced every two to three minutes.