Singapore Airlines is boosting its services to Osaka from April 27 with the introduction of a third daily flight on the route flown by its Airbus A330-300 aircraft.

The new SQ620 flight departs Singapore in the morning at 0830 and arrives in Osaka in the afternoon at 1610. The return SQ621 flight, meanwhile, is an evening flight leaving Osaka’s Kansai International Airport at 1725 and landing back in Singapore at 2305.

Tickets are yet to go on sale, but will be made available “progressively through the various distribution channels,” the airline said in a statement.

Demand has been growing on the airline’s Osaka service, which was the launch route for Singapore Airlines’ newest Boeing aircraft, the B787-10 Dreamliner, in May last year.

The deployment of the 787-10 meant the Osaka route was also the first to see the carrier’s new fully flat regional business class seat product, which debuted on the 787-10 and now also appears on Singapore Airlines’ regionally configured Airbus A350-900 aircraft.

In October, however, the airline switched out the 337-seat 787-10 on one of its two daily flights to Osaka in favour of the higher capacity Airbus A380. The superjumbo is scheduled to continue flying to and from Osaka until March 30 this year, after which the 787-10 will operate both existing daily services.

The A330-300 is a smaller aircraft than both the A380 and the 787-10, offering just 285 seats in two classes, business and economy. The A330-300’s business class cabin includes 30 seats split across five rows.

The aircraft also features Singapore Airlines’ old regional seat – one of the oldest seat products still available in the carrier’s fleet. These are lie-flat rather than fully flat seats and are notably laid out in a 2-2-2 configuration that restricts direct aisle access for window-seat passengers. The 787-10 by comparison offers a fully flat seat laid out in a 1-2-1 set up.

For an idea of what the older regional business class seat has to offer, read Business Traveller Asia-Pacific’s review of the same product on board Singapore Airlines’ Boeing 777-200 aircraft.

[embed]https://www.businesstraveller.com/tried-and-tested/singapore-airlines-b777-200-business-class-2/[/embed]

An in-depth look at the business class cabin and seat on board the 787-10 can be found here:

[embed]https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2018/03/29/first-look-singapore-airlines-boeing-787-10-dreamliner-business-class/[/embed]

A number of airlines have been expanding their operations to Osaka recently. British Airways will make its return to the city for the first time since 1998 starting April 1, with US carrier Delta Air Lines set to launch non-stop flights to the city from Seattle the same day.