Redefining premium air travel, Singapore Airlines has unveiled new cabin products providing space and privacy in all classes — suites, business class, premium economy and economy.

The launch of the new cabin offerings, riding on the theme ‘Space made personal, experience the difference’, comes after an extensive four-year development programme.

The all new SIA A380 is scheduled to enter commercial service in December on the Singapore-Sydney route, Goh Choon Phong, CEO, Singapore International Airlines, told reporters at the global launch of the products.

Asked about introducing the products in other services of SIA, Phong said: “It is an ongoing process and we will be configuring it in all A380 aircraft by 2020. However, these products will initially be fitted on five new A380s that the airline has ordered with Airbus. The retrofit work on the 14 existing A380s will start in late 2018 to ensure product consistency across the entire A 380 fleet.”

The company, according to him, has made significant investments of $850 million in the research, design, development and installation of its 19 Airbus A380 fleet.

In addition to Sydney, SIA’s super jumbos currently serve Beijing, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Melbourne, Mumbai, New Delhi, New York, Osaka, Paris, Shanghai and Zurich.

The airline business, according to Phong, is highly competitive, and introduction of premium products will determine the market. “Our business class is the first in the world to give enough storage space to provide greater convenience to passengers,” he said, adding that the new cabin products are the culmination of four years of work, involving extensive customer research and close partnerships with designers and suppliers.

Marvin Tan, Senior Vice-President (Products and Services), said Singapore Airlines set new industry benchmarks for premium full-service travel when the company introduced the first A380s in October 2007. A decade later, SA continues to receive highly positive feedback about the travel experience in the aircraft, he added.

Singapore Airlines was the first airline in the world to take delivery of, and fly, the Airbus A380 super jumbo. It has the widest fuselage for a passenger aircraft and is designed by the manufacturer to accommodate 525 seats in a standard three-class configuration. However, the new SA A380 will consist of four cabin classes with a total of 471 seats: six suites and 78 business-class seats in the upper deck, and 44 premium economy-class and 343 economy-class seats in the main deck.

Asian opportunity Later, on the sidelines of the function, Sean Lee, Head of Communications, Asia Pacific, Airbus, told BusinessLine that the Asia-Pacific region is the strongest market for air travel, witnessing a growth rate of 5-6 per cent in passenger movement compared with 4-5 per cent around the world. Still, there are many countries in the region where air travel has hardly touched, and it offers airline companies an opportunity to start new services. Moreover, a new class of travellers are emerging from this segment. All these will lead to a significant demand for making more orders for aircraft. Several airline companies have placed orders worth $2.2 trillion to manufacture more than 14,000 new aircraft, he added.

The writer was in Singapore at the invitation of Singapore Airlines

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