Singapore Airlines last month began international flights to Canberra. Dubbed the “Capital Express”, the 4x weekly Boeing 777 flights operate from Singapore to Canberra, continuing to Wellington in New Zealand.
Our member Colin 2905 managed to pick up a great value fare to Europe, using the new service to fly directly from Canberra. As one of the first AFF members to try out the new flight, they’ve taken the time to write a trip report.
Singapore Airlines announced that they’d be flying in and out of Canberra, starting in September 2016, with fares to become available in January. Maybe I could still go to the concert, on my own, as a bog-standard return trip??? The SQ fares became available on the 25th of January. Playing around with dates that worked in well with concert dates, etc, I came up with a CBR – SIN – DUS return fare of $1256.60. After making doubly sure with Mrs 2905 that it was OK for me to go, I duly pounced. The trip was on!!
The Canberra-Singapore leg of SQ292 is an overnight flight, departing at around midnight. With Singapore Airlines being the only airline offering international flights from Canberra, there is no dedicated international terminal. Instead, there is a set-up similar to Adelaide and the Gold Coast with a small international departures area that can be accessed from the domestic airside area. Although check-in opens three hours before the flight, the dedicated international departures area does not open until two hours prior to wheels-up.
There is a small duty-free section after clearing immigration in Canberra, although if our member’s description is anything to go by, there’s not much to get excited about…
No photo of the Canberra Airport Duty Free I’m afraid, but if you were to imagine what Duty Free would look like if it was shoe-horned inside a 7-11 store, something like that.
Our member was fortunate to receive a bulkhead seat for free on the flight to Singapore. Even if it didn’t help with getting to sleep, it did provide some welcome extra legroom for the redeye flight.
Supper was served in Economy shortly after takeoff, with a full hot breakfast prior to landing to round off an uneventful flight.
The flight itself was non-eventful. I was seated in 31D and for the first couple of hours 31E remained empty. We were then joined by someone whose IFE wasn’t working. I tried to sleep, but as usual, I’d be lucky if what I got totalled any more than ten minutes. Next stop, Singapore.
One problem with the Canberra flight is that it necessitates a long layover in Singapore if you’re travelling onwards to most destinations in Europe. With a 6am arrival, our member would have to wait in Singapore until 11pm for their onward flight to Dusseldorf!
The reason for the trip was actually to attend a Schiller concert in Germany, but there was plenty of time for sightseeing as well! Berlin, Nuremberg and the famous Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria were among the sights taken in on this trip.
View the trip report HERE.
