Singapore Airlines is eliminating its fifth-freedom route between Houston and Manchester, with onward service to Singapore (SIN). The flight, which is currently operated 5x weekly between Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and Manchester Airport (MAN) using an Airbus A350-900 aircraft, will be cut from the schedule as of April 1st, 2025. The flight between Manchester and Singapore will continue to operate.
With the elimination of the IAH-MAN route, Singapore Airlines will now have two fifth-freedom routes remaining to the United States. The carrier will continue to fly between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Frankfurt Airport (FRA) as well as its Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Tokyo’s Narita Airport (NRT).
In addition to its two remaining fifth-freedom routes, the airline operates direct service between the United States and Singapore.
Honestly, I’m not surprised to see this route be eliminated as it never quite made sense to me. Years ago, Singapore Airlines operated between Houston and Moscow, Russia. That route made sense due to the oil and gas industries in both cities. In 2016, the carrier switched over to Manchester which never seemed to fit.
Manchester is a hub for many ultra-low cost carriers including Ryanair and easyJet but it doesn’t have much service from other Star Alliance members. The airlines other two fifth-freedom routes operate via Star Alliance hubs for Lufthansa and ANA. United, which operates a large hub in Houston, also doesn’t serve Manchester.
With Houston being a major Star Alliance hub, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Singapore serve the airport again, though via a different airport that would have additional connection opportunities.
While the flights have been pulled from the schedule after April 1st, 2025, no official announcement has been made by the airline so we will have to wait and see if they plan to continue serving Houston in the future.
Summary
Singapore Airlines is eliminating its Houston to Manchester route next year. The route, which is currently served by an Airbus A350-900, never made much sense to me as there isn’t any connectivity for the airline in Manchester. It will be interesting to see if the airline plans to continue service to Houston via another airport.
(Image courtesy Lorenz von Schimonsky, you can find more of his work on Instagram at @abia.spotter)
Yikes. I have four of us booked IAH-MAN-SIN-DPS in May. Thanks for the heads up.
Have they reached out to you yet? I would assume they would try and re-route you IAH-EWR-SIN-DPS or a three stop itenirary IAH-LAX-NRT-SIN-DPS.