SCAT Airlines will launch a twice-weekly Shymkent-Singapore service on 20 October, using Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft with a technical stop in Sanya, China. The route will link Kazakhstan and Singapore via a same-aircraft transit, with passengers continuing through Sanya rather than on a nonstop flight.
The new operation gives SCAT a fifth-freedom sector between Sanya and Singapore, allowing the carrier to sell tickets on that leg as part of the journey. It also restores a Central Asia-Singapore air connection, which aviation reporting says has not been in place at Singapore Changi since 2019.
The service is being positioned as the first regular link between Kazakhstan and Singapore operated on this routing, while also supporting Shymkent’s role as SCAT’s main hub. Published schedules indicate a one-stop journey of about 11.5 hours in total, with roughly 6.5 hours from Shymkent to Sanya and close to three hours from Sanya to Singapore.