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Singapore Airlines Business Singapore to Wellington New Zealand Flight Report

I fly on Singapore Airlines Business Class, from Singapore to Wellington via Canberra. This was the new "Capital Express" route, connecting the three important capitals of Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. This route commenced 21 Sep 2016. This would mark the first regularly scheduled international service into Canberra. SQ uses the Boeing 777-200 on this route, with 38 Business class seats in 2-2-2 configuration and 228 Economy class seats in 3-3-3 configuration.

SilverKris Lounge Changi Airport Terminal 3 Teochew Cuisine

Check in at Changi Airport Terminal 3 was very smooth. I start my trip with a visit to the SilverKris Lounge for SIA Business Class passengers. They were offering authentic Teochew cuisine and I had a good meal there.

Singapore Airlines SQ 291 Part 1

SQ291 would depart Singapore at 2300hrs, or 11pm. Today, we departed from gate B10, which was a very far gate from the main area in Terminal 3. In fact, at gate B10, you are almost at Terminal 1. Anyway, I didn't mind the walk. Boarding was smooth and this first video shows boarding, and I get settled in my seat for this first leg, which would take around 7 hours. Turns out that passengers can choose whether to have the meal service shortly after take-off, or before landing, or both. So I chose to get some sleep shortly after takeoff.

Singapore Airlines SQ 291 Part 2

In Part 2, I show you the meal before landing. The cabin lights were turned on about 2 hours before landing and the pre-landing meal (in this case breakfast) service began. Starting with a bowl of fruit, we went on to the main course. I had 'Booked the Cook', so I got the Chargrilled Soya Beef for breakfast. A most interesting breakfast indeed! However, I wasn't too hungry and didn't eat much.

Canberra Airport Landing and U-Turn on Runway

Landing into Canberra airport was smooth. The runway felt pretty short and the Boeing 777-200 jet had to do a U-turn at the end of the runway, before taxi-ing to the terminal. An interesting experience! Here is the landing video, in bright glorious sunshine.

Canberra Airport International Departures Lounge

We had to wait at the Canberra Airport for about 1.5 hours before we could re-board the plane to resume the journey. Here is a short snippet of the Canberra Airport international departure lounge. This lounge was opened to all passengers, not just premium passengers.

Canberra to Wellington Flight and Landing

This was the final leg of the flight, from Canberra to Wellington. The flight took about 3 hours. I was very tired and slept throughout most of this flight. I didn't eat at all.

Here is the Press Release by Singapore Airlines on the launch of the 'Capital Express' Service from Singapore to Canberra and Wellington.



Singapore Airlines Launches 'Capital Express' Service To Canberra And Wellington
21 September 2016 - Singapore Airlines has launched its new ‘Capital Express’ service, linking Singapore for the first time with the capital cities of both Australia and New Zealand.


The inaugural flight, SQ291, departed Singapore Changi Airport at 2300hrs local time last night and arrived at Canberra Airport at 0815hrs local time this morning. Following a short stop-over at Canberra, it continued on to Wellington and arrived shortly after 1500hrs local time.


Customers departing from Singapore and Canberra were treated to an assortment of food and beverages at special boarding gate events held to commemorate the inaugural flights.


The ‘Capital Express’ service will operate four times per week on a Singapore-Canberra-Wellington routing, with return services operating on a Wellington-Canberra-Singapore routing.


Singapore Airlines is the first airline to operate regularly scheduled international services to and from Canberra. It is also the first airline with flights between Canberra and Wellington.


Flights will be operated with 266-seat Boeing 777-200 aircraft fitted with 38 Business Class seats and 228 Economy Class seats.


The new Canberra services will add to Singapore Airlines’ already extensive Australia network, which includes flights between Singapore and Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Regional arm SilkAir also serves Cairns and Darwin, while low-cost subsidiary Scoot serves the Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. The new Wellington services will complement existing services between Singapore and both Auckland and Christchurch.


Singapore Airlines’ network in Australia and New Zealand is further enhanced through its extensive partnerships with Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand.



Thanks for watching!
 
Nice report.I haven't flown SQ in almost 2 years now and I miss it...

I did read that the loads were bad on this route at least initially. What's your opinion on that?

My flight from Singapore to Canberra was FULL in Business class. Yes, full. I heard it was packed in Economy too. However, the load from Canberra to Wellington was very light, I think only about 30% in Business class. I asked the cabin crew and they told me the Wellington-Canberra leg is usually very light in terms of loads, while the Singapore-Canberra leg they can get decent loads.
 
Before I post the videos of my flight back, let me post some of the videos I made when I was in New Zealand. New Zealand is a beautiful country, though rather far away from most of the world. While in Wellington, I stayed at the Intercontinental, which was a very nice hotel. Here is a video of my deluxe room. Downtown Wellington isn't too far away from the airport. The taxi ride took about 20 minutes.

Intercontinental Hotel

Managed to visit a farm, and saw plenty of sheep! Beautiful place.

Attended a function and was treated to this impressive performance of an all male acapella choir.

This crane ship, called Hikitia, from 1928, was something of a curiousity. Apparently the ship still works!

More later. Cheers.
 
The Intercontinental hotel was located in a very central location, and it was only a short walk to the civic center. This video shows you some scenes. Bright and sunny, with people relaxing. Very cool.

Some coverage of the food I had. In this video, I dined at an upmarket restaurant called White Bait. Their website is - (Restaurant Wellington | Seafood Harbour Dining -Whitebait They specialise in local produce, especially seafood. The cooking was very good. Recommended if you like seafood and want to try something nice.

Had dinner at Kazu (a Japanese restaurant) with a group of friends. It was pretty good and not too expensive.

Curious, why was this chap swimming across the Bay? Maybe it was good exercise!
 
Before I post the videos of my flight back, let me post some of the videos I made when I was in New Zealand. New Zealand is a beautiful country, though rather far away from most of the world. While in Wellington, I stayed at the Intercontinental, which was a very nice hotel. Here is a video of my deluxe room. Downtown Wellington isn't too far away from the airport. The taxi ride took about 20 minutes.

Intercontinental Hotel

Managed to visit a farm, and saw plenty of sheep! Beautiful place.

Attended a function and was treated to this impressive performance of an all male acapella choir.

This crane ship, called Hikitia, from 1928, was something of a curiousity. Apparently the ship still works!

More later. Cheers.

I guess you wanted to stay awake so you didn't count the sheep, but maybe you know how many it was. I started to count, but... zzzzz.. .. ;):)
 
I guess you wanted to stay awake so you didn't count the sheep, but maybe you know how many it was. I started to count, but... zzzzz.. .. ;):)

haha, that's funny. There were too many to count! The sheep dogs were very hardworking though. I could see them rounding up the sheep. Really, the sheep looked very silly, just follow one another. Some of the sheep went out of line and the sheep dog had to get them back. Reminds me of the teachings in the Bible. We are all like sheep, gone astray!
 
It is Christmas morning in Singapore (ok, we don't have snow here, always warm and sunny), so Blessed Christmas one and all! Let me add more content to this thread this Christmas day. Always happy to share with you my travel experiences and thanks so much for reading.

It was time to go home, and I would be taking the Capital Express service, from Wellington to Canberra to Singapore. The service from Wellington departed in the evening, around 2100hrs. I took a taxi from the hotel to the airport, the ride was quite fast and I enjoyed some nice views along the way as the driver took a coastal route. This video shows you snippets of the taxi journey.

In this video, I show you the Wellington Airport Air New Zealand Business Star Alliance Gold Lounge. Wellington Airport is not big, and only 15 to 20 minutes from downtown CBD area by taxi. Check-in was very quick and immigration and security clearance was very fast (primarily because there were no other passengers when I went through). I headed straight to the Air New Zealand Business lounge to relax. The food selection wasn't too bad. The hot options were decent, and they had some cold food too, plus a soup. The alcohol selection was good. The New Zealand wines were very good and they had a nice selection of Mac's craft beers, which I will show you in the video. I also couldn't resist a cold Kirin beer. Air New Zealand Business lounge, located right after security and immigration at the Wellington international airport.
 
The lounge wasn't too crowded that evening. Plenty of space to chill before the flight and I managed to catch up with some reading and emails too. Soon, it was time to board. The airport was small (we were at the international departures) and it was only a short walk to the gate (3 minutes). The good thing with a small airport like Wellington was that the security clearance and passport clearance was very quick. In fact, when I got there, I was the only person in the line and I felt like a VIP, which I am not. One of the big hassles of flying through major airports would be the long lines for security and passport. Didn't have to face this in New Zealand.

The Wellington to Canberra leg was not long, slightly over 3 hours. A full meal would be served onboard. I had a starter of fried prawns and salad, followed by a main which was fish with rice, and dessert plus a cheese plate. All paired with very nice wines. Excellent service on board Singapore Airlines - a great way to fly! I managed to catch a 1 hour nap in between, before landing in Canberra.

Landing in Canberra was smooth and there would be a crew change. All passengers had to disembark and the layover was about 1 hour and 15 minutes. By this time, I was getting tired as I had a full meal on the first leg and I was ready to sleep for the night. The next video shows you the Canberra to Singapore leg. Boarding was smooth and we looked to be the last flight out of Canberra this early morning. This flight was using the regional Boeing 777-200 jet, with an angled bed. I had an empty seat next to mine, which was very nice. I settled in quickly in the same seat as the previous leg. I opted to have breakfast, rather than eat immediately after takeoff. I managed to get a good 5 hours plus of rest (the total flight time was close to 8 hours) and enjoyed a nice breakfast before touching down at Singapore Airport before 6am local time. It was a very pleasant flight.

Thanks for watching!
 
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