SIA First with Asia-U.S. All-Premium Service

posted: 4 March 2008 4:22 p.m. ET

: Singapore Airlines is converting its ultra-long-haul, two-class Airbus A340-500s into all-business-class configuration. Each A340 will have just 100 seats and will operate the first ever all-premium-class services between Asia and the U.S., says SIA. Credit: Singapore Airlines
: Singapore Airlines' A340-500s will be retrofitted to have just 100 seats, all of them business-class seats that fold down into lie-flat beds. Each seat row will have a 1-2-1 seat configuration, giving every passenger direct access to the aisle. credit: Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines will begin operating all-business-class services to Los Angeles and New York in May, in a move it says will create an airline-industry first.

The initiative will represent the first time any airline has operated an all-business-class service between Asia and the United States, Singapore Airlines (SIA) said.

SIA plans to convert the five Airbus A340-500 ultra-long-range widebody jets it operates on nonstop flights to both U.S. cities into all-business-class configuration. At present each A340-500 seats 181 passengers in two classes -- business class and SIA's 'Executive Economy' class -- but will replace this configuration with a single-class interior that contains 100 of the airline's new business-class seats.

Each seat will be 30 inches wide, "the widest Business Class offering in the sky," according to Singapore Airlines. The new seats will be of the same design as the new business-class seats SIA is installing in its A380 superjumbos and its Boeing 777-300ERs.

In SIA's A340-500s, each seat row will have just four seats, in a 1-2-1-abreast configuration that offers every passenger direct access to the aisle. "Basically, it's the A380 (business class) interior," said SIA spokesman James Boyd.

Each A340-500 business-class seat will fold down 180 degrees into a flat-bed seat, and each seat will have a 15-inch in-flight entertainment (IFE) screen. SIA's previous-generation business-class seats have 10-inch IFE screens. Passengers on the A340-500s will be able to choose from 1,000 IFE entertainment options, said Boyd.

SIA's new all-business-class flights will replace the existing daily nonstop services that it operates to Los Angeles and New York using the A340-500s. Singapore Airlines said it is changing the services to all-premium-class flights because of "consistently strong demand from business travelers."

The airline will phase in the change-over gradually from mid-May on its Newark-Singapore route, and will be offering all-business-class service on the route daily by the end of June.

On its Los Angeles-Singapore route, SIA will increase to daily all-business-class service by late September. The conversion program requires each of the five aircraft to be retrofitted in turn and to allow the conversions to be carried out Singapore Airlines will not operate its Tuesday nonstop flights from Los Angeles between mid-May and late June.

SIA says it will re-accommodate passengers who have already booked Executive Economy seats on A340-500 services post-dating the conversions on its other flights between Los Angeles, New York and Singapore.

The airline operates daily one-stop service between New York JFK and Singapore via Frankfurt, with three-class Boeing 747-400s. SIA operates a daily Los Angeles-Tokyo-Narita-Singapore service, also using three-class 747-400s, and a four-times-weekly Los Angeles-Taipei-Singapore schedule with two-class 777-200ERs.

Singapore Airlines' network to North America also includes two daily one-stop flights between San Francisco and Singapore, one of which is a 747-400 service that routes via Hong Kong and the other a 777-300ER flight that stops off at Seoul.

The carrier also operates Vancouver-Seoul-Singapore service and on March 20 SIA is launching Houston-Singapore one-stop service with 777-300ERs. The new service will route via Moscow. Other one-stop Singapore-U.S. services, perhaps via London, are possible under the new 'Open Skies' agreement between the European Union and the United States that is due to come into effect on March 30.