SIA Increases Manila Frequency

3 October 2025

By  Elijah Felice Rosales

MANILA, Philippines — Singapore’s flag carrier has raised its flight frequency in Manila for the first time in more than a decade on optimism that the market is well on its way to another banner year.

Singapore Airlines, one of the world’s best carriers, is betting on the Manila-Singapore corridor to grow rapidly from this year onward on the continuous expansion of the market for the route.

In turn, Singapore Airlines added a new daily flight for its Manila-Singapore service for the first time since 2009.

Singapore Airlines head of marketing and PR for the Philippines Marie Aiza Soller-Garcia said the flight raises the Manila-Singapore frequency to five times daily. This puts the airline ahead of its competitors in the market.

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines will offer Manila-Singapore flights four times a day for its winter schedule starting Oct. 26. Low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific operates twice daily on the route.

Soller-Garcia said the demographics of Filipinos visiting Singapore is becoming more diverse, as the city-state expands its list of attractions to entice both solo and group travelers.

Likewise, Soller-Garcia said Singapore is capturing more corporate accounts that are heading to the city-state for business and leisure purposes.

Singapore also hosts some of the biggest events in commerce and sports, such as Formula One’s Singapore Grand Prix, Aviation Festival Asia and the Mining Asia Conference and Exhibit.

“It is still a mix, so there are solos, families and we also cater to a lot of corporate travelers. This is why we have an additional service via Flight SQ 913, 914, so that added capacity in Manila is for us to cater to that demand,” Soller-Garcia said.

The Singapore Airlines Group currently manages 86 flights per week across the Philippines. For Singapore Airlines, that covers 35 weekly flights in Manila and another seven in Cebu.

Its budget subsidiary Scoot also connects Singapore with Manila 14 times a week, Cebu 10 times a week, Davao nine times a week, Clark seven times a week and Iloilo four times weekly.

Singapore Airlines is holding a travel sale between Oct. 10 and 25, where travelers can score discounts of up to 20 percent for fares compared to regular rates. 

Singapore Eyes Fifth Daily

3 February 2017

Singapore Airlines (SIA) is expanding presence to Manila as it adds fifth flight out of Ninoy Aquino International Airport, according to SIA Regional Vice-President for Southeast Asia Philip Go.

Currently, SIA operates four daily flights on the Manila to Singapore route. Its sister airline Silk Air also operates 12 times a week from Cebu and nine times per week from Davao, while it also operates thrice a week flights from Kalibo to Singapore, all in triangular route. Its low cost subsidiary Tiger Airways also mounts daily flights from Clark to Singapore.

Go said it already applied for additional landing slots to regulators but its application is constrained by the current lack of desired available slots at the country’s main gateway.

Meanwhile, Silk Air will be growing Cebu to double daily flights while Davao will see eleven flights per week and Kalibo five times per week this year.

The airline group which flies Manila, Cebu, Davao, Clark and Kalibo is also studying Bacolod, Puerto Princesa and Iloilo as potential Silk Air or Tiger Airways destinations in the future as it sees opportunity to expand presence in other areas of the country.

Terminal 3 Is Done, Finally!

Clears Delta Airlines, KLM, Singapore Airlines, 
Emirates and Cathay Pacific transfer

31 July 2014

Delta Airlines will be the first airline to relocate in Terminal 3 today after the Transportation Department finally completed Terminal 3 project, 17 years after concession was awarded, amidst corruption scandal against its erstwhile benefactor Fraport AG of Germany.

DOTC said  Japan’s Takenaka Corp. would turn over the facility today making it 100 percent operational and later tonight Delta Airlines would be receiving its arriving passengers from the Terminal.

Terminal 3 had been operating at half its intended designed capacity since it opened six years ago catering mostly to LCC operators Cebu Pacific and PAL Express together with lone full service carrier ANA. 

Terminal 3 will now be able to welcome 3.5 million more passengers said Transport Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya.

Abaya said the $US80 million completion work done by Takenaka can now be able to fully accommodate the relocation of five international carriers operating from Terminal 1, which also has to undergo extensive repair, retrofit, rehabilitation and upgrading works to meet future demands.

Other foreign carriers that will move to Terminal 3 are as follows:

1. Delta Airlines........................................................ July 31
2. KLM....................................................................... August 4
3. Emirates................................................................. August 15
4. Singapore Airlines................................................. September 1
5. Cathay Pacific........................................................ October 1

The transfer of the  five airlines is expected to reduce Terminal 1’s annual passenger capacity from the current 8 million down to its design capacity of 4.5 million. Terminal 3 handles 13 million passengers per annum.

SIA Adds Fourth Daily Flight to MNL

Singapore expands Manila and HongKong as it loses a quarter of its passenger traffic

18 June 2009

Singapore - Singapore Airlines has announced Wednesday that it will add a fourth triple seven daily flight between Singapore and Manila from 10 July.

Huang Cheng Eng, Executive Vice-President of Marketing for Singapore Airlines, said that "The frequency increase on this route underscores the strong and growing economic, business and tourism links between Singapore and the Philippines. It also improves the connectivity of Manila to the rest of the world."

"The scheduling of the four services to depart and arrive at various times during the day between the two cities gives our customers more options to choose a flight which better suits their travel needs."

The increase from three to four daily flights will expand capacity by more than 20%. The increase in capacity was made possible as a result of recent bilateral air services agreements signed between Singapore and the Philippines recently.

To give customers more flight options to suit their travel needs and to reduce transit times for onward departures from Singapore Changi Airport, the airline decided to re-time one of its present Manila services.

SQ916 will depart Singapore at 14:10 and arrive in Manila at 17:45. The return flight SQ921 will depart Manila at 18:50 and arrive in Singapore at 22:20.

While SQ912 will be re-timed to depart Singapore at 12:10 and arrive in Manila at 15:45, while the return flight, SQ919 will leave Manila at 16:50 and arrive in Singapore at 20:20.

Singapore Airlines has been bullish on the Philippine market despite massive 62.8 % drop of passenger traffic from its route network as it continues to be hit by the global financial crisis with the carrier shedding a quarter of its passenger numbers during the past year.

The airline carried 1.2 million passengers in May, compared with almost 1.6 million for the same month last year, according to figures released on Tuesday. In contrast, Manila and Hongkong traffic has been on the rise lately which prompted them to introduce additional flights.

Singapore Airlines will also launch A380 flights on the Singapore-Hong Kong route on July 9, 2009 replacing an existing daily Boeing 777-300ER service. The operation of the 471-seat Singapore Airlines A380 to Hong Kong represents an increase of ten per cent in seat capacity to the City. The Airlines currently operates five daily non-stop flights between Singapore and Hong Kong, along with daily non-stop services between Hong Kong and San Francisco.

Singapore Airlines currently has eight A380s in service, a further 11 on firm order, and options on six more.

SQ keeps Manila, cuts the rest of Asia

Singapore Airlines to keep its 3x daily B777 frequency

February 21, 2009

Singapore - The world’s largest airline by market value intends to keep Manila frequency as it is despite its announcement Monday on its plan to cut capacity by 11 percent in the year from April this year to March 2010 as travel and cargo demand wanes. The airline announces slash of its capacity after quarterly profit ending December fell the most in at least five years.

Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI) remains bullish on the Philippine market as the only country in Asia Pacific registering positive growth in the industry mostly fueled by OFW movements. Traffic in Asia declined by 13.5% in December from the same period a year ago, and decreased by 3.4% in 2008 from the preceding year.The company has seen declining passenger demand and had already cut flights to various Asian cities.

"The drop in demand owing to the global economic slowdown is the driver of the reduction in capacity," says the airline. It adds that it "will continue to monitor demand patterns and will make changes to its network when necessary".

According to International Air Transport Association (IATA), Asia-Pacific passenger traffic sank 9.7 percent in December, while freight volumes tumbled 26 percent. The traffic declines for both passengers and freight were the biggest of any region, the trade group added.

Civil Aeronautics Board executive director Carmelo Arcilla said that CAB could not provide local data to validate the global scene, since it was still collating statistical reports from airlines but initial data indicate that the Philippines has yet to feel the full effect of the global financial crisis. Meanwhile, Secretary Ace Durano of the Department of Tourism reported on Thursday that the Philippines received 3.14 million foreign tourists last year, significantly lower than its 3.5 million target. Its annual growth percentage was however higher compared to the other Asian region which registered a negative growth. Durano said he expects the trend to continue and the industry to post a flat foreign tourists growth or possibly continuing decline in arrivals, but growing OFW deployment will fuel the industry's modest growth this year.

Singapore Airlines also announces a simultaneous cutback of its more than 120 widebody aircraft fleet from both Airbus and Boeing. Its cutbacks comprise frequency reductions across its network or downsizing of aircraft, for example 777-300ERs are replacing Boeing 747-400s on some services such as to San Francisco (via Hong Kong) and London Heathrow. The airline has 51 planes on order from Airbus and 21 on order from Boeing.

“We have not yet deferred any aircraft deliveries yet, but are examining options to do so,” said Stephen Forshaw, the Singapore Air spokesman. “Our deliveries of new aircraft are not just about growth, but also to adhere to our long-standing policy of fleet renewal,” he said.

Manila remains a top market for passenger traffic in Asia Pacific registering a growth rate of 11.9% based on Changi Airport data for 2008. It followed second to Vietnam at 17%. In the region, the sectors of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam are the most active.

Four airlines have 9 daily flights between Singapore and Manila connecting more than 15,000 passengers a week.