Singapore Airlines configures its 787-10s for high density and short routes.
Boeing built the 787-10 Dreamliner as the largest Dreamliner variant with the shortest range. That makes it well suited to high-frequency, high-demand medium-length routes. Yet, with a maximum range of 7,500 nautical miles (13,890 km), it is still capable of traditional long-haul missions. Singapore Airlines takes its 787-10s in a different direction, using them to fly bizarrely short routes, typically the domain of narrowbody jets.
Singapore Airlines uses its Dreamliner in an unexpected way for several reasons. The 787-10 is a modern jet that replaced the carrier's older widebody aircraft. It has a high-density configuration ideal for ferrying a large number of passengers. It is also fuel-efficient and versatile, making it cost-effective on a range of routes. The answer is also in Singapore Airlines' current fleet, which lacks capacity for short-haul routes with other jets.
Cirium data reveals that Singapore Airlines will fly the 787-10 on 26 routes throughout November. This is for a total of 1,129 operations and over 380,000 seats, with each jet having 337 seats available onboard. The majority of these 26 routes are regional, coming in at less than a third of the 787-10's range.
The table below includes details on the ten shortest 787-10 routes scheduled for November. All of these routes originate at Singapore Changi Airport (SIN):
I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS)
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN)
Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (DAC)
These routes have impressive frequency, showing that Singapore Airlines uses its Dreamliners to move many people over short distances. The fifth-shortest route in November is the carrier's most frequent route that uses the Dreamliner, with 120 monthly frequencies from SIN to MNL. This route is 1,474 miles long and produces almost 60 million available seat miles. That is more than all but two of the routes.
Another exceptionally frequent route included is the third-shortest, taking passengers 876 miles (1,410 km) between SIN and BKK. The airline will complete this route 106 times in November, offering 35,722 seats. This produces over 31 million available seat miles. Meanwhile, it will run daily operations on the shortest route, traveling just 675 miles from SIN to SGN. The over 10,000 seats produce 6.8 million available seat miles.
The 787-10's position within the Singapore Airlines' fleet shows sound logic behind this usage. The carrier lacks narrowbody options that would traditionally operate these short services. Its only single-aisle aircraft are its 26 Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets. These planes have a total capacity of 154 seats split between economy class and business class. This is less than half the 337-passenger capacity of Singapore Airlines' 787-10s. This means the airline's 737 fleet has a total capacity of 4,004 passengers, compared with 9,436 for its Dreamliners.
The 787-10 can simply take more of a chunk out of the high-capacity needs within a region packed with huge cities.
The table below shows Singapore Airlines' current fleet, using Planespotters.net data, revealing the position of the 787-10 within it:
On the other hand, all the carrier's widebody aircraft are overengineered for short-haul routes. The most numerous widebody aircraft in its fleet is the A350-900. This jet has a massive range of 8,500 nautical miles (15,750 km), which can extend to 9,700 nautical miles (17,964 km). As a result, the A350-900 has proven effective on long-haul and premium-dense routes. +
Singapore Airlines' Dreamliner configuration has been built with high-frequency and high-capacity needs in mind, making it ideal for moving many people between cities in the Southeast Asia region. Premium passengers have access to 36 business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, while the rest of the aircraft is taken up by a massive 301-seat economy cabin. Singapore Airlines has no premium economy class available on this jet. Just one row in this economy cabin is marked as extra legroom.
The table below shows the dimensions of the seats in each of the two cabins, making use of Seat Maps data:
20 inches (51 cm) - expands when armrests are lowered
36 seats is admittedly a substantial business-class cabin, which seems to go against the high-capacity, short-haul philosophy this article has focused on. However, Singapore Airlines uses a staggered layout that squeezes in these seats in a relatively small area. Furthermore, although these seats are lie-flat, they have a shorter pitch and narrower width than what business-class passengers would usually expect.
Despite the prevalence of routes under 2,000 miles (3,200 km), there are still some routes that get closer to the typical way in which carriers use widebody aircraft. In November, Singapore Airlines will fly its 787-10s over 3,000 miles (4,830 km) on four routes. These will be Adelaide Airport (ADL), Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT), Chubu Centrair International Airport (NGO) in Nagoya, and Osaka's Kansai International Airport (KIX).
Notably, only one of these routes takes the 787-10 outside Asia, and the longer routes within Asia largely reflect Japan's relative isolation from the rest of the continent. The longest of these four routes is to ADL, covering 3,351 miles (5,400 km). Singapore Airlines will complete this route 52 times in November, for a total of 17,524 seats and 58.7 million available seat miles. In 2024, Singapore Airlines marked 40 years of its presence in the city. The airline first flew there in 1984, 18 months after ADL's international terminal opened, using a 747.
Along with the 787, Singapore Airlines also uses the A350 for this route, which began in October 2023.
The highest-frequency route, over 3,000 miles, is to KIX, with 90 frequencies across November. This produces 30,330 seats at an average distance of 3,040 miles (4,900 km), producing over 92 million available seat miles. That total is the highest for any Singapore Airlines Dreamliner route.
Relying on a single aircraft type to operate a specific route will always leave an airline vulnerable. This could become a problem for Singapore Airlines with a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airworthiness directive coming into effect next month. It covers all 787 variants and was instituted because sealant defects could create a spark inside the jet's fuel tanks during a lightning strike. "The unsafe condition, if not addressed, could result in development of an ignition source within the fuel tank volume," states the FAA order.
The prevalence of this issue and the extent of the problem it will cause remain unclear. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says that 60 of the 170 US-registered 787s fall under the directive, requiring safety inspections. Singapore Airlines' Dreamliners do not fall under this directive, but could be affected if a problem exists for Dreamliners worldwide. The FAA says that impacted jets need sealant inspections where the wings meet the fuselage, along with adhesion checks. FAA predictions put the work for each jet at 34 hours, costing $2,890 per jet.
Further costs will be incurred where repairs are required. With over 1,100 Dreamliners worldwide, the problem could cause substantial disruption across global aviation.
Elsewhere in Singapore Airlines' widebody fleet, Boeing problems are causing other issues. Most notably, the carrier has an outstanding order for 31 Boeing 777X jets, placed in June 2017 and February 2021. It has no options for additional purchases. This aircraft family has been long-delayed by certification issues, although Boeing insists that certification and deliveries will finally come in 2027. Given the aircraft's huge size, its arrival should further cement the need for Singapore Airlines to use its Dreamliners on short, high-capacity routes.