Luke has over a decade of experience as a travel writer and aviation analyst. As a passionate traveler based across the Middle East and Asia, Luke offers strong insights into the industry. Based in South East Asia.
Singapore Airlines will begin flying to Sydney's new Western Sydney Airport (WSI) on November 23, less than a month after the airport officially opens to passengers. The Star Alliance carrier will operate a daily Airbus A350-900 service from its Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) hub, covering 3,886 miles (6,254 km).
The flight has a block time of seven hours and 50 minutes from Singapore to Sydney and eight hours and ten minutes on the return. 
Singapore Airlines became the first international carrier to commit to serving WSI in August 2024, and the airport will become its eighth destination in Australia.
Singapore Airlines Will Begin Western Sydney Flights In November
The new route will operate as SQ261 and SQ262 with the airline's 303-seater A350-900. This variant offers two cabin classes, with 40 seats in business class and 263 in economy: there is no premium economy cabin. The schedule is detailed in the table below (all times local).
|
Flight |
Route |
Departure |
Arrival |
|---|---|---|---|
|
SQ261 |
Singapore – Western Sydney |
11:30 AM |
10:20 PM |
|
SQ262 |
Western Sydney – Singapore |
11:55 PM |
5:05 AM (+1) |
Alongside its four daily flights to 
Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD), the route will give the airline five daily services to Sydney once it launches next month. It will also increase the airline's weekly departures from Singapore to Australia to 149 in the week of November 23. Schedule data from aviation analytics company Cirium reveals this is up from 140 in the same week last year.
Unlike SYD, which has a curfew from 11:00 PM to 6:00 AM, WSI can operate 24 hours a day. This allows SQ262 to depart just before midnight and connect with morning departures from Changi. In contrast, the airline’s latest departure from Kingsford Smith leaves at 7:10 PM.
WSI Opens To Passengers On October 25
WSI will welcome its first passengers on Sunday, October 25, with budget carrier Jetstar set to operate its first commercial passenger flight. This will be JQ362 to the Gold Coast, departing at 11:00 AM, before Jetstar expands its network to include Brisbane and Melbourne. A day later, Air New Zealand will begin the airport's first international service with the launch of three weekly flights to Auckland Airport (AKL) using its Airbus A320neo and A321neo fleet.
With these airlines operating narrowbody aircraft, Singapore Airlines' A350 will be the first widebody to serve WSI with passenger flights. The airport, which is certified to handle the Airbus A380, has already opened for cargo flights since July, while QantasLink is due to launch flights in March 2027.
However, an analysis of Cirium data shows the airport has just a handful of flights scheduled each day over the next 12 months. Despite this, the airport is optimistic about handling over 8 million passengers annually by 2030. WSI is located 27 miles (44 km) from Sydney's central business district, compared with around 5 miles (8 km) for SYD.
Australia Remains Singapore Airlines' Top Foreign Market
Australia is Singapore Airlines' largest market by weekly departures, and the launch of the WSI route will extend that lead. By next month, the airline is scheduled to operate 149 weekly departures to Australia, compared with 133 to Indonesia, 105 to China and 96 to India. Meanwhile, Malaysia (89), Thailand (84), Japan (70), Vietnam (68), the US (57) and the UK (49) complete its top ten markets.
Its busiest Australian route is Melbourne Airport (MEL) with five daily departures, closely followed by Brisbane Airport (BNE), Perth Airport (PER) and Kingsford Smith, which each get four daily round trips. Compared with the same week in 2025, the airline's Australian schedule will grow by nine weekly departures, or around 6%.
Seven of those additional weekly flights will be to WSI, while Adelaide Airport (ADL) has gained two more weekly flights since last year. With WSI included, Singapore Airlines' combined schedule to Sydney will match Melbourne at 35 weekly departures.