Singapore Airlines Business Class Singapore-Canberra-Wellington Capital Express Flight Review Videos

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!

Supermoon in Singapore 14 Nov 2016 9:52pm

Managed to get this video footage of the supermoon in Singapore, just as the skies cleared a bit. Super moon!
 

Vietnam Airlines Singapore to Hanoi Airbus A321 Flight Review

Flew Vietnam Airlines from Singapore to Hanoi and back, for a quick getaway with the family.  As the tickets came in under $1,000 for the four of us, we thought this was a reasonable price to pay for 3-hour flight each way.  Anyway, we hadn't been to Hanoi and we wanted to stay at the JW Marriott there (can't really afford JW Marriot elsewhere), so why not.

Turned out that the flight was pretty good.  Here is the flight review video.


Let me go through a few notable points.  Vietnam Airlines operates the Airbus A321 on the Singapore-Hanoi route.  This version of plane has 4 rows of Business class seats, followed by Economy class seats in a 3-3 configuration.  The Airbus A321 is a single aisle aircraft, commonly used for short haul, regional flights.  This video footage shows the Vietnam Airlines Airbus A321 landing at Changi Airport.  This was the same plane that we would be taking to Hanoi.


Seats
The pitch was surprisingly good.  There was plenty of legroom, which puts many of the Boeing 787 Economy seats to shame (notably Qatar's 787).  Very comfortable, and they even had a leg-rest.

Food and Service
Very enjoyable.  We had a full meal service, no less than what you would get on a long-haul flight in Economy.  The stewardesses went around serving additional wine, coffee and tea.  I can see that Vietnam Airlines is trying hard to up their service.

This was the Fish with Rice.  My wife had the Beef with rice, you can see that in the video.  The bun was hot and nice.  The fresh fruit platter was awesome!

Entertainment
Unfortunately, the plane was not fitted with a personal In-flight entertainment system.  There were overhead screens that you could watch.  But since this is an Airbus A321 operating on short-haul routes, personal IFEs would not be common.

Would I fly Vietnam Airlines again?  Yes.  The price is attractive and the service on board was good. This was our first time, and probably not the last time.

Before I end, here are some other videos I made from video footage taken at Singapore Changi Airport.  Good footage on this EVA Air Hello Kitty Boeing 777.  This must be one of the cutest airplanes in service today! 

Thanks for reading.