UAE’s Etihad Airways has filed for aircraft changes for this summer, which will see the carrier connect Abu Dhabi with Singapore using its fleet of Dreamliners instead of the originally scheduled Airbus A380. Instead, the carrier is increasing capacity to Paris by deploying a second A380 to the French capital this summer.

That being said, a lot of changes have been made by various airlines when it comes to operating flights to Singapore, especially with regard to the quadjets. These changes in services and shifting of capacity can be attributed to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East region.

Etihad Replaces A380 With The Dreamliner

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Reports from earlier this week indicate that the airline based in the UAE’s capital, Etihad, has filed for an aircraft change for its upcoming summer schedule to Singapore Changi Airport (SIN). According to AEROROUTES, the airline was originally meant to serve Singapore from its hub, Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH), using its fleet of A380s, but has since filed a change indicating that the airline will now be utilizing the Boeing 787-9 aircraft.

This marks a considerable decrease in capacity on this route, which the airline operates on a daily basis, and as per the filing, the Dreamliner is set to continue to operate throughout the summer season – July 1 to October 24. As per the airline’s website, the carrier will be deploying its first-class-equipped 787s on this route, indicating capacity reduction as follows:

That being said, it is worth noting that the airline’s flight schedule will not see any change, with service EY498 departing AUH at 9:40 PM and arriving in SIN at 9:40 AM the following morning. The return service EY499 departing from SIN at 9:00 PM and arriving back in AUH at 12:20 AM, just past midnight the following day.

The A380s Go Double Daily To Paris Instead

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While the A380 is removed from Singapore, the airline is planning to significantly increase its capacity to Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG) by deploying two daily A380s on the route this summer, which will be complemented by a third service operating four days a week as well. This will mark a considerable capacity increase from the airline’s current operations.

The carrier currently operates the two daily services using its fleet of Dreamliners and Airbus A350-1000 jets, while the third service, which is operated four times a week, is usually on an Airbus A320neo narrowbody jet. However, this summer, the following will be the itinerary:

Other routes in which passengers can fly Etihad’s A380 this summer include two to three flights a day operated to London Heathrow Airport (LHR), daily service to Tokyo Narita Airport (NRT), and daily service to Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ).

A Lot Of A380 Operational Changes Involving Singapore

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Considering that the Middle Eastern super connectors played a huge role in connecting Asia and Europe, a disruption in the region has created widespread disruption around the world. Singapore is one of the few places that has seen a lot of changes when it comes to planned A380 operations.

Singapore Airlines itself had planned to deploy its A380 to Dubai this summer; meanwhile, all three Middle Eastern carriers were meant to operate A380s to Singapore as well. While Singapore has since shifted its plan of deploying the A380 to Dubai, Etihad will not be operating its A380 to Singapore, and Qatar Airways is not expecting to resume its A380 operations to Singapore until September. Emirates continues to operate its A380s to Singapore, but some of the daily services now see the Boeing 777-300ERs.

That being said, Singapore Airlines plans to deploy its A380s to Melbourne, Australia, while British Airways aims to deploy its A380s to Singapore. Because airlines have very small subfleets of A380s (except for Emirates), any shift in an airline’s A380 operations is indicative of how market demand is shifting between countries and wider regions.