Airlines Singapore Airlines receives last ordered A380

Singapore Airlines was the first airline in the world, that received the Airbus A380 in 2007. The South East Asian carrier has ordered 19 A380. After ten years in service, the first five leased A380 have started to return to the leasing companies. To replace the jets, the airline placed an additional order for five A380 in 2012 with scheduled deliveries starting in 2017. The last of these five jets will be delivered to the airline in the next days. AVIPEO.COM visited the Airbus delivery center in Hamburg and took a look at the new aircraft.

New cabin product

With the delivery of the five last Airbus A380, Singapore Airlines has launched a new cabin product. In its so called A380 R (Retrofit), the carrier offers six First Class Suits, 78 Business Class Seats, 44 Premium Economy and 343 Economy Class seats. All remaining older 14 A380 will be reconfigured with the new cabin in the next two years.

Compared to the former A380 configuration, the first class has seen major changes. In the new aircraft, the number of suites has been halved to six, that are located in the upper deck. Each suite offers a swivel armchair and a separate bed. Couples or together travelling customers will be able to shut down the separating wall between the suits.

As part of the modernization, the lavatories for the first class have been enlarged. Showers, as they are available in Emirates A380 First Class, are not part of the new product. “We have decided against installing showers in our new aircraft for ecological reasons,” stated Peter Tomasch, Regional Public Relations Manager Singapore Airlines. An integrated shower would require around one ton of water for each flight.

The Business Class compartment is located in the rear of the upper deck. Each of the 78 seats offers a 1,98m bed and as a special feature, the two middle-seats can be used as a double-bed by shutting down the wall between the seats. Singapore Airlines has decided for a 1-2-1 configuration in its Business Class and has taken customer feedback in consideration during the development process. In the former Business Class, customers complained about the large seat width, which has been reduced to at least 64 cm.

With 44 seats, the number of Premium Economy Class, which is located in the lower deck has been increased in the latest A380 version. The seats, which are made by ZIM Flugsitz, offer a seat pitch of 96,5 cm.

In the Economy Class, Singapore Airlines has chosen Recaro as seat supplier. It is planned, that the new seat will be used for the entire long haul fleet of Singapore Airlines in the next years. With a 28 cm IFE system with touchscreen function, Singapore Airlines aims to upgrade its existing Economy Class product. As a new feature, each seat is equipped with a credit card scanner, which allows passengers to buy merchandise and duty-free articles from their seat.

Upgrade necessary to compete

The new cabin product is designed to compete with other airlines’ products, especially with the Gulf carriers. Singapore Airlines is competing with Gulf airlines on its kangaroo route from London via Singapore to destinations in Australia. Etihad, Emirates and Qatar have launched new cabin products in the last years and forced Singapore Airlines to improve their product in faster cycles, as Peter Tomasch said: “The cabin product lifecycle has changed in the last years. In former times we used a cabin product for 10 years but now we plan to use our current cabin for only seven years. Our design department is already developing concepts for the next cabin generation.”

With the retrofit of all A380, Singapore Airlines will introduce the new product on its entire A380 network in the next months. Frankfurt with further connection to New York is scheduled to become an A380R connection in early 2019.

The new A380 cabin product is part of a large modernization process within the company. The airline has just announced to integrate its regional airline subsidiary Silk Air into its main brand and started offering low cost long haul flights to European destinations like Berlin with its low cost brand Scoot.