Singapore Airlines Launches New 16-Hour Route Today: See Map Now

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Singapore Airlines is set to launch its first flight to Madrid today, October 26, more than two decades after last serving the Spanish capital. Flight SQ388 is scheduled to leave Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) at 11:30 PM local time and arrive at Madrid Barajas Airport (MAD) at 8:50 AM on Tuesday, after a one-hour stop at Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN).

The Star Alliance carrier will operate the route five times a week with its Airbus A350-900 fleet, with the outbound journey to Madrid taking 16 hours and 20 minutes. The city becomes Singapore Airlines' 15th European destination and its second in Spain. The airline last served the city in October 2004, when its Boeing 747-400s flew to Madrid after a stop at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG).

Singapore Airlines Returns To Madrid After 22 Years

The new service is an extension of Singapore Airlines' existing Barcelona flights. Flight SQ388 is blocked at 14 hours and 10 minutes to reach Barcelona from Singapore, followed by one hour on the ground and a further 70 minutes of flying to Madrid.

This outbound service will be a late-night departure from Singapore, scheduled to leave at 11:30 PM local time. It will get passengers into Spain by the morning, ultimately arriving in Madrid at 8:50 AM.

The return journey, SQ387, turns around in just over an hour, leaving Madrid at 10:00 AM. It will spend 80 minutes on the ground in Barcelona before beginning its 12-hour-and-50-minute journey to Singapore Changi. The total journey time from Madrid to Singapore will be 15 hours and 25 minutes, almost an hour shorter than the outbound service.

Five Weekly Flights With The Airbus A350-900

The carrier will use the long-haul version of its A350-900, which offers 253 seats across three cabins — 42 in Business Class, 24 in Premium Economy and 187 in Economy. The flight will run five times per week on the following schedule (all times local):

Singapore will not sell tickets solely for the leg between Barcelona and Madrid. The five weekly flights replace the two weekly nonstop flights Singapore previously operated to Barcelona, as well as the three-times-weekly Singapore-Milan-Barcelona service that ends on October 27.

The Singaporean airline joins several Asian carriers already flying to Madrid, including Air China, Beijing Capital Airlines, Cathay Pacific, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Korean Air, Sichuan Airlines and Uzbekistan Airways.

A History Of Singapore Airlines In Madrid

The Singaporean carrier last flew to Madrid over two decades ago, ending its 12-year presence in the Spanish capital in 2004. The carrier first launched flights in April 1992, using Boeing 747-300s that flew via Paris or Amsterdam, according to Mainly Miles. The route was later upgraded to the Boeing 747-400, with all flights connecting via Paris, before it dropped Madrid from its network in October 2004.

Since then, Singapore passengers have relied on codeshare connections with Star Alliance partners such as Lufthansa and Swiss to reach Madrid. Connections via Munich Airport (MUC) can take close to 18 hours, involving several hours of waiting at the connection airport.

Meanwhile, Barcelona has been part of the airline's network for more than two decades. The carrier began serving the city in July 2006, with three weekly flights via a stop in Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP). It then began nonstop services to Barcelona in March 2011, when the city became a stop on its first-ever South American route to São Paulo Guarulhos (GRU), but ended this route in 2016. It would later resume nonstop flights from Singapore to Barcelona in June 2024.