It has been rumoured that Singapore Airlines are planning to increase the number of Business Class seats on their Airbus A380 fleet due to an increase in demand for premium seats.

As the business travel industry recovers, most airlines are choosing to invest in their First and Business Class products. By changing the floor plans of their A380s to have more premium cost seats, this will be a big revenue boost for Singapore Airlines.

Singapore Airlines is supposedly rearranging seat plans on its new A380s, removing Economy seats from its upper deck and making way for more Business Class seats, which will stretch across the entire length of the upper deck.

The changes will be made from May 2011 when the airline’s 12^th A380 superjumbo is delivered. This aircraft, and the other 8 on order from Airbus, will be fitted with the new seating configuration, which will see an increase of 40% in the number of Business Class seats. It is expected that the current A380s in the fleet will keep their original cabin layouts.

At the moment there are 16 rows of Business Class seats and 11 rows of Economy seats on the other deck, but Singapore Airlines will be ditching the Economy seats for 6 more rows of Business Class seats, which lie fully-flat and offer 55 inches of legroom.

The spacious Business Class seat folds out to become the largest fully-flat seat of its class, so passengers can curl up in a duvet, large pillows and fresh linen. Business seats are equipped with a centralized business panel featuring power supply and USB ports and passengers can watch a wide selection of entertainment on the 15.4” personal screen. Seats feature carefully integrated storage space, mood lighting and a contemporary colour scheme.

Business passengers receive restaurant style meals created world class chefs served on Givenchy tableware. A range of branded toiletries such as eau de cologne, aftershave, and moisturising lotion is available in all Business Class washrooms and passengers can request  toothbrush sets, combs, disposable razors, and shaving cream.  Passengers can request a writing kit from the cabin crew, and keep up to date on current affairs with a wide range of magazines and newspapers.

Singapore Airlines  has unveiled capacity cuts across much of its passenger network as it copes with a drop in demand amid the global economic downturn.

The Star Alliance carrier said earlier this week that it will now be decommissioning 17 aircraft in the financial year starting 1 April, rather than four aircraft as previously planned. It said this would amount to an 11% reduction in capacity.

SIA says now that the 11% capacity reduction will come from service cuts across much of its network, on all its key route regions.

Singapore Airlines has taken delivery of its first Airbus A330-300. The aircraft was handed over by Airbus at a delivery ceremony in Toulouse, France, yesterday. It is one of 19 new Rolls-Royce Trent 700-powered A330-300s that the airline will be leasing to tie them over until the purchased Airbus A350s arrive in the coming years.  The aircraft will be used to replace older Boeing 777s on regional and medium-haul routes, such as those between Singapore and Australia and Japan.

Singapore Airlines A330 (Source : SIA)

The first Airbus A380 used for passenger service has landed at London Heathrow today.

The flight is managed by British Airways, although it is a Singapore Airlines flight. British Airways are currently preparing for their 12-double decker A380’s which should arrive from April 2012.

British Airways isn’t the only airline to put in an order for the aircraft. Virgin Atlantic are also waiting for 13 A380’s, due in 2013.

470 passengers are onboard the flight SQ308 which is due to fly into Terminal 3.

The A380 is a much quieter aircraft and is producing only a quarter of the noise of the Boeing 747-400.

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 jets it currently 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.

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.” 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. 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.

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Airbus announced yesterday that it will deliver the first A380 to Singapore Airlines on Oct. 15, with the carrier’s first flight slated for Oct. 25 from Singapore to Sydney.The aircraft will be configured with 471 seats in three classes: Economy, business and “Singapore Airlines Suites.” Seats on the first flight will be auctioned via eBay and SIA said it will donate the proceeds to charity. The return Sydney-Singapore flight is scheduled for Oct. 26.

“Everyone at Singapore Airlines is keenly anticipating the delivery of this new plane and our people are working hard on final preparation for its entry into service,” CEO Chew Choon Seng said. “The first flight promises to be one of the most exciting occasions in aviation history.”

Under the original A380 program schedule, the first aircraft was scheduled to be delivered to SIA in May 2006, or 17 months earlier than now is planned following several program delays (ATWOnline, Sept. 22, 2006).

Airbus still touts the aircraft as a 555-seater, but SIA followed Qantas–which plans to seat 450 on its A380s–in revealing a configuration for far fewer passengers. Typically, 747-400s are configured for about 380 passengers, meaning the first A380s in operation will handle fewer than 100 additional passengers. However, they may not present the boarding and disembarking challenges some had feared.

While SIA said its A380 first-class suites “will be a product that totally redefines luxury in the sky,” it did not say whether it will feature self-service bars and lounges in first and business classes similar to Qantas.

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