DECEMBER 2017 AUSTRALIAN AVIATION 21A
s the first details of
Singapore Airlines’ new
Airbus A380 configuration
leaked out in November,
your author wondered
where the classic SQ wow
factor has gone. Ten years ago,
the carrier launched the A380
(remember “first to fly”?) and
introduced the first doored suites.
With suites now flying in business
class as Qatar Airways’ Q Suite
and on Delta Air Lines’ new Airbus
A350, Singapore Airlines finds
itself playing catchup.
Let’s look at the numbers.
Singapore Airlines’ A380 refit is
the second major second-generation
A380 cabin refit, after Qantas (see
Cabin Pressure, October 2017).
Where Qantas offers 14 first class
seats, 70 in business, 60 in premium
economy, and 341 economy seats,
Singapore Airlines’ A380s will
have six of the new first class suites,
78 of the new business seats, 44
in premium economy and 343 in
economy.
The suites will move upstairs,
creating a single-aisle front cabin
and displacing business class
seats backwards in the upper deck.
Premium economy will take over
the space where first class currently
sits at the front of the main deck,
with economy remaining at the
rear of the main deck. Notably, all
A380s will be outfitted in the same
layout rather than some having
economy in the rear portion of the
upper deck.
Singapore Airlines’ suites are
a new take on the single-aisle
upstairs A380 product, which
was first introduced by Etihad as
its Apartment product. There are
fewer than Etihad’s nine seats, and
no Residence taking up one of the
spaces and a “forehead” lavatory.
There aren’t showers either, with
those forehead zones turned into a
pair of large loos with powder room
seating.Inside the suite, a fold-up bed
sits along one wall, with a large
inflight entertainment monitor that
swings along the aisle wall of the
suite. The seating is comprised of
a single swivelling chair on the
window side of the suite opposite
the bed, with a table folding out
from an angled console between
the chair and the aisle. Beneath the
windows sits a set of consoles and
storage, and there’s an option to
combine two suites into one larger
double bed.
The swivel thing has been tried
before, most recently by American
Airlines on its Boeing 777-300ER
first class product. It hasn’t been
universally successful, with the
benefits of the swivel outweighed
by the compromises around
knee space in desk mode and the
fiddliness of the mechanism. With
manufacturer Zodiac Seats UK
– a company that has not recently
covered itself in glory on timely
delivery of quality products to
customer specification and user
delight – producing the suites, this
will be something to watch.
There’s a lot of space in thesuite, but is it ideally used? There’s
no sofa hiding underneath the bed,
so it’s unclear what passengers
are expected to use all the space
for, other than sitting and looking
at it. The table, too, sits between
the swivel chair and the door, so
passengers will be expected to face
away from the windows towards the
aisle while dining. The positioning
of the seats and the lack of any
other seating also means that
passengers travelling in pairs are
unable to dine together.
Given the amount of space in the
suite with the bed folded up would
allow a flight attendant to walk
around to serve food at a window
position – perhaps with a pop-up
screen to allow movie fans to watch
something while eating – this
seems like a missed trick, as does
the relative narrowness of the bed,
which is a common complaint in
both the Etihad and first-generation
Suites product.
In business, there are new
forward-facing fully flat beds from
Japanese seatmaker Jamco, which
also produced the current Boeing
777 product for the airline, after thecurrent A380 seats manufactured
by disgraced seatmaker Koito,
which falsified safety testing, were
understandably discontinued. The
big news is that the three pairs of
bulkhead business class seats will
convert into a double bed, although
a chunky divider from waist level
down will discourage hanky-panky.
The seats seem a little small,
though, and retain SQ’s signature
angled sleeping function that isn’t
universally loved. Apart from an
updated design language (likely
to match the imminent regional
business class refresh) there’s little
innovation here.
Premium economy will be the
same seat as on existing aircraft,
while economy will see new seats
in the usual 3-4-3 layout rather than
the 3-5-3 configuration Airbus has
been pushing.
All in all, many (including your
columnist) are wondering where the
old SQ magic is. Instead of gazing
in wonder at the new Singapore
Airlines product, all eyes are turned
to the unveiling of Emirates’ new
first class suites as this issue of
Australian Aviation goes to press.JOHN WALTON
Cabin Pressure @thatjohnSuite new A380, but is it the business?
Singapore Airlines unveils new superjumbo seats and layout
N
nThere’s a lot of space in the
suite, but is it ideally used?