In the coming days, Singapore Airlines will be retiring its final Boeing 737-800, which means the airline will finally be offering a new level of consistency throughout its fleet. Thanks to Mainly Miles for flagging this.
Singapore Airlines Boeing 737-800s exiting the fleet
Singapore Airlines has scheduled its final Boeing 737-800 flight to land on Sunday, October 26, 2025, coinciding with the end of the IATA 2025 summer season. Specifically, the 10-year-old plane plane with the registration code 9V-MGN will be operating flights in the coming days from Singapore (SIN) to Kathmandu (KTM) and Penang (PEN), and will then be retired.
At its peak, Singapore Airlines had nine 737-800s in its fleet, and they’ve been progressively retired over the years. Funny enough, these planes have been mostly headed to Australia, where they’re flying for Qantas and Virgin Australia.
Once the last 737-800 is retired, the Star Alliance carrier will have the Boeing 737 MAX 8 as its sole narrow body aircraft. The airline has 19 of those in its fleet, with an additional 10 on order.
The retirement of the 737-800 has major implications for the carrier’s overall fleet. With this development, Singapore Airlines will finally offer flat bed business class seats, inflight Wi-Fi, and seat back entertainment, throughout its fleet. As it stands, the sole remaining 737-800 is the only plane in the fleet to only have recliners in business class, and to not have Wi-Fi or seat back entertainment onboard.
Singapore Airlines’ 737 MAXs have fully flat business class seats in a staggered layout. The cabin has 10 seats, with two rows being in a 2-2 configuration, and one row being in a 1-1 configuration. Side note — Singapore Airlines would have direct aisle access from business class in its entire fleet if it weren’t for those four window seats on the 737 MAXs.
Singapore Airlines’ history with the Boeing 737-800
For those not familiar, the backstory of Singapore Airlines operating Boeing 737s is interesting, because prior to several years ago, Singapore Airlines had an all wide body fleet (okay, at some point going back a long time the airline operated wide body planes, but let’s not go back that far).
Historically, Singapore Airlines operated wide body aircraft, but then separately had SilkAir, its wholly owned regional subsidiary, which operated narrow body aircraft. In 2018, it was announced that SilkAir would be merged into Singapore Airlines, which seemed like a logical development.
It took several years for that to actually be put into motion, and in 2021, the Boeing 737s officially joined Singapore Airlines’ fleet. Initially, the plan was for the entire active Boeing 737 fleet to feature the new cabins, but those plans were delayed due to the grounding of the 737 MAX, plus the continued issues with getting new aircraft delivered.
So ultimately these 737-800s flew a lot longer than planned with their initial cabins, aside from just some minor cosmetic updates. But that chapter is now coming to an end, and that’s good news for the passenger experience.
Bottom line
In the coming days, Singapore Airlines will retire its last Boeing 737-800, marking a major milestone for the airline. With this, the iconic airline will finally have flat bed business class, Wi-Fi, and seat back entertainment, throughout its fleet.
These 737s only became part of Singapore Airlines’ fleet thanks to the integration of SilkAir. They then stuck around a lot longer than planned due to problems with the 737 MAX. This is all good news, and I’m looking forward to my first Singapore Airlines 737 MAX flight in the coming weeks.
What’s your take on Singapore Airlines retiring Boeing 737-800s?