Singapore’s Changi getting 600 new flights for LNY

To cater for an anticipated increase in travel demand over the coming LNY holiday, six airlines at Changi Airport will be offering over 600 supplementary flights to as many as 15 Chinese cities. This is more than double the supplementary flights mounted during the same period in 2025. Between 1 February to 8 March 2026, travellers will have more choice to visit a wide variety of destinations ranging from popular cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing, to secondary cities like Changsha, Ningbo, and Wenzhou. Singapore is currently linked to 37 cities in China, and the country is one of the top holiday destinations for Singapore travellers. With mutual visa-free arrangements, the LNY season continues to see strong travel demand between the two countries. The additional flights will provide travellers from both countries more options for holiday travel. The additional flights are offered by six airlines including Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Loong Air, Spring Airlines and Xiamen Airlines, offering a good mix of destinations and price points for travellers. Among them, Air China, China Eastern and Xiamen Airlines will each operate more than 140 additional flights. Together, the flights will serve 15 cities across China – Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Hefei, Nanchang, Nanjing, Ningbo, Shanghai, Wenzhou, Wuhan, Xi’an, Xiamen, Zhengzhou. It will be the first time that airlines are operating supplementary flights during the LNY holiday to Nanchang, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Wuhan, and Zhengzhou. Lim Ching Kiat, Executive Vice President for Air Hub and Cargo Development, Changi Airport Group said, “The doubling of flight capacity between China and Singapore this Lunar New Year reflects the strong travel demand we continue to see between China and Singapore, as well as the close partnerships we have built with our airline partners. The extended services, including to several cities receiving supplementary flights for the first time, will further strengthen Singapore’s position as a key gateway to China.” Singapore Airlines signs commercial deal with Air India Air India and Singapore Airlines (SIA) have signed a commercial cooperation framework agreement, which will pave the way for them to deepen their long-standing partnership through definitive joint business agreements. This strengthened collaboration allows the airlines to explore ways to improve connectivity between Singapore and India, delivering greater choice and benefits for customers. Subject to regulatory approvals and the signing of definitive joint business agreements, the airlines aim to expand and enhance the product and service offerings, enabling seamless connections and more route options, and allowing customers to book flights across both airlines under a single unified journey. This partnership also envisages a closer coordination of flight schedules between Air India and SIA to improve convenience for customers. It could also expand to include greater cross-participation in the airlines’ corporate travel programmes to improve offerings to business travellers. The airlines will explore plans to progressively enhance privileges beyond the current Star Alliance benefits for members of Air India’s Maharaja Club and SIA’s KrisFlyer frequent flyer programmes. Air India and SIA also plan to explore opportunities to broaden the scope of their cooperation in select markets, beyond Singapore and India, subject to regulatory approvals. This would meet the growing demand for global connectivity, support traffic flow through both carriers’ hubs, and strengthen the air travel markets of both India and Singapore. Today, the airlines codeshare on 61 points in 20 countries and territories. This follows the October 2024 expansion of their codeshare partnership, which added 51 international and domestic destinations across both networks. Campbell Wilson, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Air India, said: “Air India remains committed to expanding its global footprint, both by adding new aircraft to our own fleet and by forging stronger commercial partnerships, especially with our fellow Star Alliance member carriers. We are pleased to take our valued, long-term relationship with Singapore Airlines to the next level through this new commercial cooperation understanding, which establishes a clear and structured platform for both airlines to explore and define future areas of closer collaboration. With this measured approach, we aim to lay a strong foundation for sustainable, long-term value creation for our customers and other stakeholders.” Goh Choon Phong, Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Airlines, said: “This agreement between Singapore Airlines and Air India is a natural evolution of our successful partnership, creating genuine value and delivering enhanced benefits to customers. It is a strategic, win-win collaboration that will strengthen connectivity between Singapore and India, support the growth of air travel and tourism in both countries, and deepen their long-standing business and people-to-people ties.” For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Matt Driskill at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Head of Sales Sally Passey at [email protected]