QANTAS: Upgrades A330 Sydney to Singapore flights to A380 — more classic rewards available

Sydney to Singapore flights are getting a double dose of A380 between 16 June and 10 August 2025. And again in 2026 on Friday and Sunday from 28 March (according to ET). This means that there is a minor flood of Classic Reward and Classic Plus seats available during that first period, but they are disappearing fast.

More First, Business, Premium and Economy seats

Normally, an A330 is scheduled on this QF81/QF82 route with only Business and Economy seats.

Replacing it with an A380 five or six days a week means adding First Class and Premium Economy seats to those flights. Business Class capacity rises from 28 on the A330 to 70 on the A380. First Class goes from zero to 14 suites, as does Premium Economy, which introduces 60 seats. Economy seats rise from 269 to 341.

Essentially, the A380 SuperJumbo will replace the currently wet-leased Finnair Airbus A330s with the ‘AirLounge‘ in Business Class that were being used on this route. This is not a bad thing, given that Finnair‘s industrial disputes have been disrupting this wet lease deal with Qantas.

Finnair Industrial dispute and disruptions

Back in late 2024, Finnair was in dispute with its pilots’ union, the Finnish Airline Pilots’ Association (SLL). The dispute concerned employment terms such as standby duties and pay. Bans on overtime and standby work were imposed, leading to scheduling changes and flight cancellations.

That meant disruptions to Finnair’s wet-leased flights for Qantas. Qantas has scaled back the Finnair-operated flights. Essentially, Qantas has ceased operating the Finnair wet-leased aircraft on the Sydney–Singapore route, replacing them with its own aircraft. Finnair wet-leased aircraft continue to operate the Sydney–Bangkok route, a flight I hope to take in the next few months.

Spare A380, anyone?

Given those disruptions, it is fortuitous that Qantas will have a spare A380 that came back into service earlier than expected. The ninth A380 (out of 10), with its refreshed cabin interiors, will ultimately be deployed on the Sydney to Dallas Fort Worth route from 11 August. In the meantime, it will be deployed on this AF81/82 route, which the return journey is achieved within a 24-hour period.

That plane switch to the A380 will add 60% capacity to the flight over the A300.

More Reward seats

The aircraft swap to the larger A380 also allows the release of additional seats across all classes. You could view these online. Yesterday, seats were plentiful but already they are being redeemed. Best to get in quick, with some Premium, Business and First seats still available. Seat availability for the return sector seem harder to find.

If you are interested in reward seats, move sooner rather than later. It also means you could evade the Classic Reward 20% points hike that comes into play as of 5 August. For example an Economy redemption on this Sydney to Singapore route will rise from 25,200 to 29,000 points one way. In business redemption rises from 68,400 to 82,100, and for First Class, expect to pay about 20,000 points more than previously.

2PAXfly Takeout

This increased capacity on the Sydney to Singapore route may affect pricing, although that’s not reflected in a search on Google Flights at the moment.

Still, in my view, you are up for a much better flying experience on the A380 than the A330, whether it is a Finnair wet-lease or one of Qantas’ own aircraft.