Flight International - 10 April 2018

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12 | Flight International | 10-16 April 2018 flightglobal.com

layout, with each having aisle

access, and recline into a 76in

full-flat bed.

In economy, the Star Alliance

carrier is using the same Recaro

seat as installed on its newer and

soon-to-be-reconfigured Airbus

A380s, in a nine-abreast layout.

Its 787s also feature Panasonic

Avionics’ eX3 inflight entertain-

ment system, with in-flight wifi

connectivity provided by the

same company.

“The 787-10 is a very impor-

tant addition to the SIA family,”

says chief executive Goh Choon

Phong. “I have very good confi-

dence that it will set a new level

of comfort for people who travel

on medium-haul [services], be-

cause the product we’re having

on the 787-10 is something that

is even better than what others

are deploying on the long-haul

[sectors]. I’m sure that it will be

something that our customers

would love to travel on.” ■

Business passengers have lie-flat

seats, all with access to an aisle

Singapore Airlines

Interior investment gives ‘highly customised’ class to cabin

CONFIGURATION FIRDAUS HASHIM SINGAPORE

Singapore Airlines

Carrier’s first example of stretched twinjet received watercannon salute on arrival at Changi airport

“At this point in time, we have

the aircraft for longer haul,” he

says, referring to its current fleet

and orders for the A350-900 and

-900ULR, along with 787-9s at

subsidiary Scoot.

SIA’s current primary regional

type, the A330, flies sectors of up

to 3,250nm (6,010km) to Mel-

bourne. This range encompasses

all of East Asia, the Indian sub-

continent and much of Australia.

“There will probably be more

routes in Australia where we’ll

consider deploying this aircraft,”

Goh suggests, while noting that

Nagoya and Fukuoka will be the

next routes to be served by its

new Dreamliners.

“Japan is a hugely important

market for us, and the travellers

on our Japanese routes are very

discerning. I’m very sure they will

appreciate the new products that

we have on the plane. There will

be a capacity increase in Japanese

routes, and [they] are experienc-

ing very high demand,” he adds.

“All or most of the Japanese

points are destinations that we

intend to deploy the 787-10 [to]

progressively,” adds Goh. SIA

also currently serves Tokyo’s

Haneda and Narita airports, using

A350-900s and 777-300ERs.

The 787-10 represents an

18.2% increase in capacity from

the A330-300’s 285 seats, and a

4.3% rise from SIA’s high-density

777-200s, which have 323.

SIA is scheduled to receive

eight 787-10s by the end of this

year and another 11 in 2019, and

will return 11 A330s to lessors

through 2020, Fleets Analyzer

shows. It owns 18 777-200s, and

has not disclosed plans to remove

any of these over the period.

Boeing is eyeing additional

widebody sales opportunities

with its 787 family and develop-

mental 777X in the Asia-Pacific

region, with airlines in Thailand

and Vietnam identified as poten-

tial near-term buyers.

Dinesh Keskar, senior vice-

president of sales for Asia-Pacific

and India, also notes that the com-

pany has seen “tremendous” in-

terest from airlines in Southeast

Asia that are keen to use the com-

pany’s proposed New Mid-market

Airplane for services to China.

Designed to fit between the 737

Max 10 and 787-8, the 220-270-

seat type could enter service in the

2024-2025 timeframe. ■

FLEET AARON CHONG SINGAPORE & EDWARD RUSSELL NORTH CHARLESTON

SIA’s 787-10 brings capacity for change

Carrier planning to deploy longest Dreamliner variant on medium-haul routes into Australia and Japanese destinations

Introduction of the Boeing

787-10 by Singapore Airlines

(SIA) is being backed by the

carrier’s $350 million investment

in new regional cabin products

for its first 20 examples. The

enhancement was unveiled

shortly following the twinjet’s

arrival at Changi airport follow-

ing a delivery flight from North

Charleston, South Carolina, via

Japan’s Osaka Kansai.

SIA has configured its -10 with

337 seats in two classes: 36 in

business and 301 in economy.

The carrier says its “highly cus-

tomised” new business-class

seats were developed exclusively

with Stelia Aerospace. They are

configured in a staggered 1-2-

S

ingapore Airlines (SIA) on 3

April launched short-haul

proving runs with its first 787-10,

with initial flights to Bangkok

and Kuala Lumpur performed

just over a week after taking

delivery of Boeing’s longest

Dreamliner variant.

The carrier had accepted the

aircraft (9V-SCA) at the compa-

ny’s North Charleston, South

Carolina final assembly facility

on 25 March, as the first of 49 on-

order -10s. The twinjet is config-

ured with 36 business-class seats

and 301 in economy.

“The intention for the aircraft

is medium-haul,” says chief ex-

ecutive Goh Choon Phong. SIA

will introduce the type on flights

to Japan’s Osaka Kansai on 3

May and to Perth, Australia, four

days later, FlightGlobal sched-

ules data shows, replacing an

Airbus A330-300 and 777-200,

respectively.

Goh says the airline has no

plans for reconfiguring later de-

liveries for long-haul service,

adding that it has the flexibility to

convert its orders to either the -

or -9 variants if required.