In November 2024, Singapore Airlines launched the third of its new routes for 2024 – service between Singapore and Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX). Since I had already gone for both the Brussels and Gatwick inaugurals – the former of which I did the inaugural in both directions – I decided to cap it off with the Daxing inaugural as well.
The Brussels inaugural had been good ex-BRU, while Gatwick had zero fanfare due to the SQ321 turbulence incident a month prior. With that in mind, I opted to do just the ex-PKX inaugural. Plus it was on a Monday, which meant I could spend the weekend in Beijing, where I stayed at the Conrad Beijing.
The PKX inaugural absolutely delivered. There was all the pomp and ceremony of an inaugural, and most importantly, nice souvenirs to take home. It was a good experience after the disappointment of Gatwick. (I was later informed by Station Manager Gatwick that the usual inaugural activities had been planned but cancelled). I also had the chance to visit and fly out of PKX for the first time, and compare it with the experience of Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK). I’ll share my thoughts on the comparison later on in this post.
Getting to Beijing Daxing
One drawback, in my opinion, of SIA’s PKX flight is the morning departure time, currently 9.25am for Northern Winter 24/25 season. Combined with the distance of PKX from the centre of Beijing – nearly 50km – means an early departure from the hotel for most. In my case, I left the Conrad around around 6.15am and got to PKX just after 7am, approximately a 50min car ride. Didi is cheap enough and easy to get, but ultimately PKX is a fair bit further than PEK is.
My timing that morning was excellent though. I arrived just in time to hear SIA’s Senior Vice President (SVP) Marketing Planning Dai Haoyu – the designated SIA VIP for this inaugural – start his speech.
Check-in
All the speeches were in Chinese of course, and I’m ashamed to admit my Chinese isn’t up to scratch to understand the speeches. Instead, I headed for check-in, which was in full swing. There wasn’t a queue at the Business class counters though, so I was attended to immediately.
Check-in was pleasingly quick, in fact the fastest of all the 3 inaugurals I did in 2024. Kudos to SIA for getting their ground handling agents well-trained. The agent gave me directions to the BCS Lounge near the gate, and handed over a goodie bag of souvenirs. That’s the score I was here for!
The souvenirs consisted of a certificate, travel pouch, luggage tag and Batik print sticker sheet. Curiously, I noticed a few fellow passengers on this SQ811 inaugural carrying their certificate and sticker sheet by hand. I’m guessing Singapore Airlines offered a err, differentiated level of souvenirs depending on class of ravel. This is nice and vindicated my decision to redeem Business class for this flight, but still it wouldn’t hurt to spend a bit on souvenirs for everyone. After all with the signature Batik print on everything, it’s basically cheap advertising.
Once I completed check-in, I stood around to catch the remainder of the ceremony. After the speeches, a short lion dance performance commenced.
After the lion dance, the dignitaries were invited back on stage for a photo op. I spotted a couple of familiar faces amongst the SIA reps. This event was clearly a big deal locally, with lots of professional and amateur media around.
With the ceremony at check-in done, I headed in for security and immigration. Security was typical Chinese airport, while immigration felt painfully slow, despite the small number of international flights. Once through, I got to get an up-close view of the beautiful architecture of Beijing Daxing International Airport:
Gate Ceremonies
Since nothing much was happening at the gate when I walked by, I headed to the BCS Lounge which nearby. The lounge was also decorated for the inaugural, and SIA passengers were given a Batik print hand fan. I’ll have a full review of the lounge soon.
Back at the gate, there was a setup of snacks for passengers. Around 8.30am, the dignitaries arrived for more ceremony. SIA’s General Manager China, an old friend of mine, delivered a short speech before the cake cutting. I managed to briefly catch up with GM China, who shared with me the challenges of selling an inaugural flight.
Boarding commenced just before, which marked the end of the festivities. I could not escape more old friends, as I ran into another acquaintance who’s involved in SIA’s cabin services. This acquaintance of mine was clearly designated to supervise cabin cleaning setup at new stations, as he was at the Brussels inaugural as well. It was great catching with old friends. Like I said, inaugurals are fun!
PEK vs PKX
From an airport experience perspective, I have to say I actually prefer Daxing over Capital. Daxing is visually stunning, it’s currently less crowded and therefore more calm in the morning, and the BCS lounge was actually decent. PKX also has the advantage of not having to take a people mover to the gate unlike PEK Terminal 3, although the tradeoff is more walking. I haven’t done an arrival on PKX so can’t speak for the arrival experience, but definitely from this one departure experience, I tend to prefer PKX over PEK.
However good the airport experience may be, it can’t overcome 2 major negatives: the longer distance and lower flight frequency, insofar as SIA is concerned. Admittedly I’ve had longer car rides from other Chinese airports, but that long a journey early in the morning is not something I want to deal with. If arriving in PKX, I can imagine it’s even worse than departing, as one would have to deal with peak hour traffic heading into central Beijing. Yes, there’s an airport express train, but the current city terminus – Caoqiao – isn’t the most convenient to access as well.
That morning timing also brings me to the other issue with PKX. It’s currently once daily, with an overnight from SIN and early morning departure from PKX. PEK in contrast has 3 daily flights well spread out throughout the day. I’m sure for SIA, PEK is the main focus and PKX is more of bonus additional capacity. From a passenger experience, I’d prefer the route/airport with higher frequencies. PKX will work for some, especially if pricing is right, but the PKX timings aren’t really my ideal timings.
With all that in mind, PEK is still likely to remain my usual gateway to Beijing. It probably applies to most people, just due to flight frequencies. I’m sure that’s how SIA sees it as well. PEK remains the Star Alliance hub in Beijing, and the PKX service isn’t meant to supplant any of the PEK capacity. If PKX does well, then great for SIA is tapping a new gateway. But this definitely isn’t a Tokyo situation where one airport grows to equal or greater importance.
Conclusion
Singapore Airlines’ Beijing Daxing inaugural was a nice way to cap off the new route launches for the year, at least for me. The inaugural festivities were in full swing, I came away with lovely souvenirs and reconnected with some old friends. This flight also gave me a chance to check out Daxing Airport. PKX has some positives going for it: the stunning design, relative calmness in the morning, a decent lounge and not having to take a people mover to the gate. That said, it’s much farther from central Beijing than PEK.If one is staying in southwest Beijing, then PKX may make sense. However from almost any other part of Beijing, I’d much rather head to PEK than PKX.
PEK also currently offers more flight options. With the morning departure ex-PKX, that’s essentially a wasted extra hotel night, and not even time for breakfast before heading to the airport. Given all those considerations, I’m sticking with flying out of PEK for now.