It was July 19, 2006. That Tuesday 15 years ago, a brand new Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-200 landed in El Prat for the first time. The Barcelona airport then used a single building divided into three: terminals A, B and C. This distribution was born from the reform of Ricardo Bofill's Architecture Workshop for the increased activity in the 1990s, as well as from the later study of architecture Artigues & Sanabria in the early 2000s, which aimed to respond to a growing demand before the inauguration of T1 in the summer of 2009.

Singapore Airlines landed in Barcelona 15 years ago after considering a dilemma in the Iberian Peninsula: return to operate in Madrid as it did in the early 90s with its Boeing 747 or opt this time for Catalonia on its return to Spain. This time El Prat won against the Barajas option and in this way the airline added two more destinations in Europe: Milan and Barcelona, ​​since it was decided that initially and until the numbers did not say otherwise, the most convenient thing was that, both the going as well as the return, an intermediate stop was made in the capital of Lombardy: 50 minutes without having to get off the plane.

Thus, the capital of Catalonia gained an important and strategic intercontinental destination: one of the economic capitals of Asia which, in turn, is one of the most important flight exchange centers in the region, Changi, an impeccable airport from which to connect with the entire network of Singapore Airlines in Asia and Oceania. Specifically, with seven cities in Australia, as many in Japan, six in China and many more links to and from New Zealand, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia or Malaysia, to give a few examples.

Initially, three weekly flights were scheduled. Given the success in the average occupancy of the aircraft, which was around 90%, the Boeing 777-200 model was changed for the -300 version, much more capable in terms of number of passengers and cargo in the hold. Then the frequencies were increased and, finally, due to the growth in demand, direct flights to Barcelona from Singapore were added, cutting each trip by two hours, also maintaining those with an intermediate stopover in Milan.

To Brazil for Barcelona

One of the great moments of the company in El Prat was experienced in 2011. Five years after its commitment to Barcelona, ​​this airport became its intermediate stopover to reach its first destination in South America: São Paulo, Brazil. To do this, it extended its direct flight by making it continue to the economic capital of Brazil from El Prat, a service that it carried out in shared code with the extinct Spanair (the existence of the Barcelona company was essential to be able to start this service) and even the one that survived , since the flights on which it was possible to fly between Barcelona and Brazil with a plane from Singapore continued to operate until 2016, the year the route was canceled due to a notable drop in demand, caused by the irruption of other companies from the Middle East in the Latin American market.

some history

Singapore Airlines is the flag carrier of the Republic of Singapore, which with less than 700 square kilometers is one of the smallest states in the world (Andorra has 468). The brand was created in 1972, although its operational history dates back to 1947, as Malaysian Airways, due to the close relationship between the two territories, to the point that in the 1960s the airline was renamed Malaysia-Singapore Airlines. But, with the independence of Singapore, everything that was previously linked to Malaysia politically, commercially or socially was left behind, including air transport, hence the birth of the brand.

A brand that, from its early days, has opted for high quality in-flight service, the operation of a fleet that is always very young, and the launch of products such as a Boeing 747 with increased capacity in its business class. Most recently, it became the customer that debuted the Airbus A380 in 2007, a milestone for this company that has won prizes and awards of all kinds in practically all categories: in-flight service, global airline, maintenance, safety, comfort or interior design.

All these awards corroborate a legendary and perfect service on board. This has allowed this company to always remain at the top of the Skytrax ranking, an audit created in the United Kingdom and dedicated to the analysis and comparison of the quality of the different airlines and airports around the world.

A Barcelona anecdote in 1979

Although it is true that Singapore Airlines began to operate commercially in Spain arriving in Madrid in 1992 and then betting on focusing on Barcelona from 2006, the reality is that it landed for the first time at a Spanish airport in 1979. It did so precisely in Barcelona , where it arrived, almost by chance, from Banca Catalana.

And it is that, at the end of 1978, the group Banca Catalana/Banco Industrial de Catalunya wanted to reward the subscribers of the 25th issue of cash bonds with an exclusive trip to New York from El Prat flying, neither more nor less than with the then brand new Concorde. The financial group chartered one of the seven British Airways supersonic aircraft, which brought a first group of customers from Heathrow to Barcelona on February 24, 1979.

Being Saturday, the airport was filled with onlookers wanting to see the plane live for the first time. As it arrived at night, the aircraft slept in El Prat and took off the next day transporting a hundred travelers to the United States. Among them was the then accidental mayor of the city, Manuel Font i Altaba, who upon arrival at JFK airport was received by his counterpart in the Big Apple, the charismatic Edward Irving Koch, who later acted as host for all the passengers and other local celebrities at a party in the legendary Waldorf Astoria. Barcelona and New York have never been so close in such a short time.

As a curiosity, the plane that operated that flight had the left half of the fuselage painted with the colors of Singapore Airlines, since, between 1977 and 1980, it and the British operated the London-Singapore route on an experimental basis, always with reluctance on the part of of the Malaysian government for the overflight of its territory, so it was not always attached to that Asian route. The original project was to unite Sydney and London in supersonic mode with two stops: Bahrain and Singapore, something that was finally scrapped.

Thus, the novelty of that day in February 1979 at the Barcelona airport was doubly so: it was the first time that the logo of the Singapore airlines was seen in El Prat and also the first time that the Concorde landed in its tracks.

Flying even in pandemic

As for the rest of the airlines in the world, the past 2020 was a year to forget at Singapore Airlines. If during the first months of the year it had an average of 5,300 travelers/month from El Prat to Changi, the figure dropped to zero in April and May, since all flights had to be canceled.

Later, in June, the link was recovered, although flying only once a week with unthinkable occupations: the strict restrictions of the Asian country meant that only 35 passengers flew on the ten flights operated throughout that month between both cities, that involved an unprecedented average of 3.5 passengers per flight on planes that have a capacity for 253 passengers. That is: more crew members than passengers on board. The cargo capacity in the holds, since these were indeed full, somehow washed away the negative results of each flight.

In the first weeks of 2021, the airline resumed the three frequencies with the brief stopover in Milan and those responsible for the company are cautiously beginning to see that the situation is improving with each flight for a route that they continue to trust when They celebrate 15 years of its premiere and in which it is expected, as soon as possible, that it will be non-stop between both extremes.