For many avgeeks, Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) serves as something of a bucket list destination, with the beautiful Asian hub known all over the world for its impressive ‘Jewel’ complex. It also serves as a handy gateway to other major destinations in the Asia-Pacific region for transit passengers, with its importance underlined by the fact that five different major US airports currently offer direct, non-stop flights to Singapore Changi Airport.

According to present scheduling data made available by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, this month will see 228 one-way departures from US hubs to Singapore Changi Airport, representing an average of just over eight a day or 57 a week. Let’s see where these flights originate, and who operates them.

San Francisco Is The Top Gateway

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In terms of departure frequency, San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in Northern California comfortably comes out on top, with four flights a day to Singapore operated by two different airlines. Singaporean flag carrier Singapore Airlines is one such operator, and it accounts for two of the four daily flights, with the Airbus A350-900ULR being its aircraft of choice. As seen above, the other two are run by its Star Alliance partner, United Airlines.

In an interesting contrast to its fellow Star Alliance member, United Airlines favors the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner for these flights, as opposed to the rival Airbus A350-900 widebody twinjet at Singapore Airlines. This June will mark 10 years since United launched its flights from San Francisco to Singapore Changi Airport, with Marcel Fuchs, its VP of Atlantic & Pacific Sales, having explained at the time of the route’s launch back in 2016 that:

“This long-awaited service will offer unique benefits to customers traveling between our West Coast hub at San Francisco and Singapore. Customers arriving in San Francisco will have dozens of options to connect to other cities across the Americas.”

Nonstop From New York

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While they don’t match the frequency of the flights from San Francisco International Airport, arguably the most famous nonstop services from the US to Singapore are those that originate in the New York City area. Every day, using the specialized Airbus A350-900ULR, Singapore Airlines operates a nonstop service to its main hub at Changi Airport from both New York John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and neighboring Newark (EWR).

These flights are famous for being the longest scheduled non-stop commercial services anywhere in the world, with SQ21 from Newark to Singapore clocking in at a considerable planned block time of 19 hours and 10 minutes. Meanwhile, SQ23 from New York JFK Airport is a little bit shorter, but, at 18 hours and 55 minutes, is still a veritable aviation marathon. The return legs from Singapore Changi Airport typically take closer to 18 hours.

Another unique aspect concerning these flights is the fact that the Airbus A350-900ULR widebody twinjets that operate them do not have any economy class seats on board. Instead, as detailed by current fleet data made available by aeroLOPA, they have just 161 seats, split between 67 in business class and 94 in economy. Prior to the advent of the Airbus A350-900ULR, Singapore Airlines also used to serve this route with special A340-500s.

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Two More West Coast Gateways

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As seen in the map above, two more US airports will enjoy direct, non-stop flights to Singapore Changi Airport this month. Both of these hubs can be found on the West Coast of the United States of America, with both routes being served by Singapore Airlines’ Airbus A350-900 widebody twinjets. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) has the lower of the two frequencies, with five flights a week (daily except Monday and Wednesday).

Meanwhile, further to the south on the West Coast of the US, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) benefits from an increased frequency of 10 Singapore Airlines flights a week to the carrier’s main hub at Changi Airport. These services operate daily, with a second flight also running on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. Flying from Los Angeles, the block time is almost 18 hours, compared to closer to 17 when flying from Seattle.