Outfitting A340-500 Fleet With 100 Business Class Seats

Singapore Airlines announced this week it plans to convert its five Airbus A340-500 widebody, long-range aircraft into an all-Business Class configuration, for daily flights between Singapore and New York, and Singapore and Los Angeles. This new configuration will position Singapore Airlines as the first to operate an all-Business Class service on the Transpacific route.

The current two-class, 181 seat arrangement on the airline's A340-500s will be replaced with 100 Business Class seats, in a four-abreast, 1-2-1, layout. Each seat is upholstered in leather, and is 30 inches wide. Every seat will have direct access to the aisle, and will convert to a fully-flat bed.

The new Business Class seats are the same design as those fitted on the Airline’s A380 and B777-300ER fleet, according to the airline.

"The new Business Class is being very well-received by our customers on long-range flights. The new product is the perfect fit for the ultra-long-haul services between Singapore and the USA," said Singapore Airlines Executive Vice President Marketing and Regions, Huang Cheng Eng. "The peak demand for the non-stop flights is from our Business Class customers, and this change will expand Business Class capacity from 64 to 100 seats on each flight."

The implementation will be phased in gradually from mid-May 2008 on the Singapore-New York route, with daily services in the new all-Business Class arrangement to New York by end June, and Los Angeles by late September. The program will require each of the five A340-500 aircraft to be retrofitted in turn.

Singapore Airlines flies 46 times weekly between Singapore and the US, with multiple daily flights serving Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. The daily non-stop flights to Los Angeles and New York are complemented by other one-stop flights to each destination daily. In March, Singapore Airlines will add Houston to its route network with a four-times-weekly flight from Singapore, via Moscow.

FMI: www.singaporeair.com