Back in mid-2023, the well-connected Executive Traveller site reported on information it had received suggesting that Singapore Airlines was planning to refit its Airbus A350 ULR cabins, potentially with a new layout or new cabin products.
With a five to six week downtime in the hangar for each of the seven aircraft in this sub-fleet kicking off in mid-May 2024 and running until January 2025, that led us speculate earlier this year that it might be the perfect opportunity for the airline to complete such a cabin refit, with three principal possibilities in mind:
- Option A: Nothing other than routine maintenance (C2 check) across all seven ULRs progressively – with a return to service in their current cabin configuration, with current seats.
- Option B: Refit of all seven A350 ULR aircraft to a different cabin configuration. For example, more Business Class seats and fewer Premium Economy Class seats, but with the same products currently installed.
- Option C: Refit of all seven A350 ULR aircraft with the carrier’s new (currently unseen) Business Class and / or Premium Economy Class cabin products, designed for the much-delayed Boeing 777-9. This could be with the same or similar cabin class mix, or a new Business / Premium Economy balance.
The most exciting possibility was of course Option C, with the airline’s brand new Business Class product designed for its upcoming Boeing 777-9 aircraft gathering dust since it was signed off three years ago for its proposed 2021 introduction.
It seemed like a no-brainer that the airline could use this opportunity to launch that product ahead of the Boeing 777-9s introduction, which now looks almost certainly to be no earlier than 2026, but unfortunately there’s bad news for any potential introduction of a new product this year.
No A350 ULR cabin refit in store
Within a couple of days of our article, Singapore Airlines confirmed to us that “no retrofit” would be happening on these aircraft during this maintenance window, which sadly ruled out the possibility of the jets being first in line for the new long-haul Business Class seats.
No retrofit, however, didn’t exclude the possibility of a change in the balance between Business Class and Premium Economy Class seating on board, but after further enquiry SIA confirmed to us that no refit whatsoever is in store for these aircraft at this time.
That means it’s simply Option A the airline has gone for, with no major changes in the cabin.
The first aircraft to be rotated though this routine six-year maintenance check is 9V-SGA, in the hangar since 19th May 2024. It should emerge just as it looked before, inside and out, by late June or early July.
After that, the remaining six Airbus A350 ULRs in the SIA fleet (9V-SGB to -SGG) will each take their turn to have the same maintenance work conducted, a process that has required the airline to temporarily shuffle daily A350 ULR service off the San Francisco route, with a three times weekly Los Angeles rotation in its place.
| SIA Airbus A350 ULR Flights | ||
| Route | Till 30 Apr 2024 — From 1 Feb 2025 |
1 May 2024 31 Jan 2025 |
| SQ36: SIN-LAX SQ35: LAX-SIN |
— — |
3/wk 3/wk |
| SQ24: SIN-JFK SQ23: JFK-SIN |
7/wk 7/wk |
7/wk 7/wk |
| SQ22: SIN-EWR SQ21: EWR-SIN |
7/wk 7/wk |
7/wk 7/wk |
| SQ34: SIN-SFO SQ33: SFO-SIN |
7/wk 7/wk |
— — |
| Total | 42/wk | 34/wk |
Is it a missed opportunity?
We can’t help thinking this is a missed opportunity for Singapore Airlines, with no major long-haul cabin product reveal in nearly seven years.
With four brand new cabin products already signed off for the Boeing 777-9, including a brand new First Class and Business Class, we’re also a little surprised the airline is happy to sit on the new designs for so long.
With dozens of new Business Class cabin products recently rolled out, or being revealed this year by a range of competitors, SIA must be itching to show the world its own future products.
The A350 ULR, which still operates the longest flights in the world for now, would have been the perfect platform to do it on.
Of course, we know that retrofitting aircraft is not without its challenges. These include logistical complexities, regulatory considerations, and the all-important cost implications.
However, the potential benefit would have been to give Singapore Airlines the buzz of a much-needed long-haul cabin product launch, enhancing the passenger experience on the longest flights in the world… it must have been tempting!
After all, the new long-haul Business Class for the Boeing 777-9 will inevitably also be retrofitted to the Airbus A350 Long Haul and ULR models eventually anyway, since these fleets aren’t even at half life with the carrier, and will be in service well into the 2030s.
How badly does SIA need a new Business Class?
Singapore Airlines last updated its long-haul Business Class product in 2017 on five brand new Airbus A380s that started to be delivered that year, a product that’s since been retrofitted to all 12 of the carrier’s post-pandemic superjumbo fleet.
While that’s only six years ago, there are a few reasons why this shouldn’t really be regarded as the most recent step-change this cabin has received:
- The 2017 J seat is only marginally different to the 2013 J seat. Primarily, it does not need to be flipped over to be converted into a bed and has better storage, but passengers still need to sleep at an angle with their feet in a small cubby hole towards the side at most seats.
- The 2017 J seat is only fitted on the carrier’s 12 A380s. It never made it on to other long-haul aircraft, even the A350 ULR that first entered service a year later, and it doesn’t have a First Class (non-Suites) counterpart for aircraft like the Boeing 777 and Airbus A350.
- The 2017 J seat has limited coverage on the network. For example, on 1st April 2024 1,803 of the 2013 J seats departed from Singapore on 39 flights, but only 546 of the 2017 J seats departed on just 7 flights. 2013 J is still the mainstay on SIA’s long-haul equipped aircraft.
Now when you consider that the 2013 J seat is approaching 11 years old, that’s the longest the airline has gone without a major product refresh in this cabin in recent memory.
When you further consider that it will be 2026 before a new product can be launched on the Boeing 777-9, we’re looking at up to 13 years without a major step-change in Business Class cabin design – and that’s not like SIA at all.
Singapore Airlines
Long-haul Business Class Product Evolution
| Product | Launch |
 SpaceBed |
May 2002 |
| 4 years | |
 2006 J |
October 2006 |
| 7 years | |
 2013 J |
July 2013 |
| 4 years | |
 2017 J |
November 2017 |
| 8-9 years? | |
 2026 J |
2026* |
* Estimated
While there’s still nothing fundamentally wrong with the 2013 J seat, which boasts direct aisle access and converts into a flat bed, there are many industry developments in this cabin that now make it look and feel rather dated.
We’ve flown on this seat many times and it’s still broadly a comfortable experience with lots of space on offer and nice finishes.
However, the main bugbears are the necessity to flip the seat over to convert it into bed mode, and the requirement in most seats to sleep an an angle with your feet in a small cubby hole below the side console of the passenger in front.
The latter isn’t an issue at bulkhead row seats, but these are reserved for advance selection by PPS Club members or those with an infant in their booking, so for most it’s pot luck whether you can get your hands on one of these at 96 hours prior to departure.
There’s also the increasingly notable lack of the latest ‘bells and whistles’ in the product, like USB-C ports, wireless charging, bluetooth headphone pairing and larger 4K in-flight entertainment screens – not to mention the latest trend in Business Class, closing privacy doors.
These are all more or less ‘de rigueur’ in the latest Business Class cabin products being rolled out by competitors, and those airlines sure are rolling them out in droves lately.
Many new products are entering the market
New Business Class products either already launched or in the works for entry into service this year include those on Malaysia Airlines, Japan Airlines, Air France, British Airways, Delta, ANA, China Eastern, KLM and Qatar Airways.
Qatar Airways is even introducing its updated version of the 2017 Qsuite design in the middle of this year.
The latest upcoming Airbus A350-1000 Business Class cabins for Qantas also have closing privacy doors.
These will be used on the carrier’s ‘Project Sunrise’ non-stop flights between Australia and the USA / Europe, which will eclipse SIA’s current title on New York – Singapore services, and they should enter service in mid-2026, perhaps even before SIA’s Boeing 777-9s will.
Even Emirates will finally ditch its unpopular 2-3-2 Business Class seating layout on single-deck aircraft this year, with the advent of a new 1-2-1 direct aisle access product on its Airbus A350s, which will also be retrofitted to Boeing 777-300ERs later.
It’s a given that these will include privacy doors and the other modern features boasted by the latest seats offered by other airlines.
There’s a good chance that the product will closely mirror the latest Qantas seats, since Emirates is partnering with Safran for the design (Qantas is using the Safran Unity for its new A350 Business Class).
Why is SIA’s new Business Class taking so long?
This long gap without a new long-haul First and Business Class product isn’t entirely Singapore Airlines’ fault.
Boeing 777-9s, with all-new cabins in First Class, Business Class, Premium Economy and Economy Class, were supposed to enter service with the carrier in 2021 – eight years after the current 2013 product first debuted on London flights.
That wouldn’t have been a ridiculous wait.
- SIA’s ‘SpaceBed’ Business Class launched on Singapore to London flights in June 2002, but just 4.5 years later its successor the 2006 J product (and its counterpart 2006 F) entered service.
- Those 2006 seats then started to be replaced by the 2013 product only 6.5 years later, and by March 2020 they had all left the fleet, after 13 years of service.
The fact that we could be looking at 13 years between the 2013 J/F introduction and the next product rollout (2026 J/F?) is quite galling, and a topic that now publicly irks the airline’s disappointed CEO.
“It is unfortunate that the 777-9 is delayed, because I’m very proud of the product we have already designed for the aircraft.”
Goh Choon Phong, CEO, Singapore Airlines
November 2022
Delays to Boeing’s 777-9 programme are the main factor holding up proceedings, and while the first three aircraft for Singapore Airlines have actually been built already, they sit stored in the USA while the aircraft’s development programme is effectively “stalled”, according to Emirates President Sir Tim Clark.
This comes after already-extensive delays to the type’s production we covered in some detail last year.
Emirates has been the most outspoken of the aircraft’s prospective operators, aided no doubt by being the largest customer with over 200 units on order.
In November last year the carrier’s president Sir Tim Clark said he expected Type Inspection Authorisation (TIA), the final formal lap in the FAA certification process, to happen in February 2024, with Emirates expecting to then take delivery of its first 777-9 in October 2025.
Boeing was then hit by another embarrassing accident in January 2024 on its narrow-body 737 MAX aircraft, when a door plug came off an Alaska Airlines aircraft shortly after takeoff. The aircraft had been delivered to the airline with none of the four securing bolts that hold the plug in place installed, and Boeing took responsibility for the blunder.
The manufacturer has been under intense scrutiny by the FAA ever since, and the 777-9 development has taken a back seat, with TIA now nowhere in sight.
When discussing 777-9 delivery prospects in March 2024, Clark told reporters “Every day is a different day at Boeing. It could be the back end of next year, but more likely early 2026”.
In the most recent comments earlier this month, the Emirates President was pointing to a first delivery for the 777-9 in the second quarter of 2026, but added that Boeing had “a lot of issues [to work through] with the FAA, goodness knows how long it’s going to take.”
Similarly in May 2024 Lufthansa’s CEO Jens Ritter said delays to the Boeing 777-9s certification process mean the Star Alliance carrier does not expect to introduce its first aircraft to service until the summer 2026 season “at the earliest”, which means late March 2026, or beyond.
As of May 2024, Singapore Airlines still expects to receive its first Boeing 777-9 in 2025.
“At this point in time, based on our understanding, we are expecting the Boeing 777-9s to be delivered next year”.
Goh Choon Phong, CEO, Singapore Airlines
16th May 2024
While SIA remains publicly supportive of the aircraft’s production and certification, and tows the official Boeing line on forecast delivery dates, executives must privately be in a state of frustration over the continually stretched timeline for the carrier’s fleet replacement, and new cabin product launch.
What could the new J look like?
While we haven’t seen what SIA has in store for its Boeing 777-9s (and no doubt on the A350s for future retrofit too) in the Business Class cabin, as we mentioned earlier there’s little doubt that the industry standard in this cabin is now closing privacy doors.
We therefore strongly suspect that SIA will be offering a direct aisle access Business Class product in a 1-2-1 configuration with privacy doors on the 777-9, but it would have been great to see them on the A350 ULR before that.
The airline’s most recent long-haul Business Class product, the 2017 J seat found on the carrier’s 12 Airbus A380s, is a very nice but very similar seat to the 2013 J version installed on other aircraft.
SIA stopped short of fitting doors to those seats, but it surely can’t afford not to have them now.
With or without doors, and it seems hard to believe it will be without, what else can we expect from SIA’s new long-haul Business Class seats?
Well we can safely expect modern touches like USB-C charging ports, wireless charging pads and NFC / bluetooth headphone connectivity to feature.
IFE screens should also inch bigger, along with the general industry trend. JAL’s latest system in Business Class is a 24-inch 4K high resolution offering, while SIA’s decade-old Boeing 777-300ER Business Class still has 18-inch LCD screens.
A double bed option at the middle seat pairs would also pique our interest.
The airline already offers this at three bulkhead rows on its Airbus A380s in Business Class, but it can be difficult to secure these, especially for last-minute bookings.
The airline does not traditionally favour herringbone designs, where the seats are angled either towards or away from the window, so we’d expect to see fuselage-aligned seats.
However, one concept SIA has embraced with its new Regional Business Class is the ‘staggered’ 1-2-1 arrangement, with seats being aligned against the window and then closer to the aisle at alternate rows.
This also allows for couple (or ‘honeymoon’) options at alternate rows in the middle section, where a larger number of those double beds could potentially come into play.
The new long-haul Business Class product might well go down this ‘staggered’ route too for that reason, depending on the product and manufacturer selected.
However the new cabins look, we can be confident that Singapore Airlines hasn’t simply signed off the 2021 design and left it to gather dust over the last few years.
CEO Goh Choon Phong told media in May this year that “you can rest assured that while we have this delay, we have been making full use of the delay to ensure that any features that we had planned will continue to be updated.”
That’s especially important as some of the features seen in the latest Business Class seats, like wireless charging, are relatively recent industry developments.
There’s a new Premium Economy Class coming too
Singapore Airlines has also confirmed that its upcoming Boeing 777-9 will feature its second generation of Premium Economy Class seats, the first major upgrade for this cabin in 10 years.
This is another seat that could have seen its debut on the Airbus A350 ULR instead, replacing the Safran Seats US Z535i models currently fitted, but alas won’t be fitted to the fleet during this current hangar downtime.
There have been some interesting developments in the Premium Economy space lately, with Lufthansa soon adopting the ZIM Privacy seat, already used by partner Swiss.
These primarily improve privacy, as their name suggests, with extended winged panels at the headrest level.
JAL recently introduced a new Premium Economy product by Safran Seats France that features large sliding privacy partitions, probably the most impressive we’ve seen yet in this travel class.
JAL’s seats also have motorised leg rests that rise up to 90 degrees to increase the surface area of your seat, quite a nifty feature that could prove to be comfortable for watching TV or sleeping, while seat pitch is a whopping 42 inches (4 inches more than SIA currently offers).
Of course we’re hoping that Singapore Airlines will be making some similar improvements to its own Premium Economy offering, and it would have been be great to see it launched on non-stop US routes, before the Boeing 777-9 arrives.
What else is in store for the Boeing 777-9?
As it stands, it will be the Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-9 introduction in a good couple of years from now that will see the advent of new cabin products for the carrier.
We’ve got a full rundown about the many features, both known and likely, of these new aircraft in our dedicated article from March this year.
This includes the aircraft’s latest comfort features, route predictions, and details of the dreaded 3-4-3 configuration unfortunately coming to the Economy Class cabin.
Summary
Singapore Airlines is rotating its seven Airbus A350 ULR aircraft through month-long hangar visits between now and January 2025, as the aircraft hit the six-year-old mark and therefore require a more extensive routine inspection.
This could have been a great opportunity to also install the airline’s brand new under-wraps long-haul Business Class product designed for the Boeing 777-9, and then showcase it on the longest flights in the world.
That’s especially true given the extensive (and still ongoing) delays to the Boeing 777-9 programme, which means we’re almost certainly looking at mid-2026 or later for SIA’s jets to enter service.
Alas, the airline has confirmed to us that no refits will take place on this occasion.
In the meantime, competitors are rolling out new Business Class products in rapid succession, including Malaysia Airlines, JAL, Qantas and Emirates, and it’s starting to feel to us like SIA is being left behind.
We certainly appreciate the airline’s desire for a big rollout of four brand new cabin designs at once on its future flagship Boeing 777-9 aircraft, but at what point do that programme’s delays lead the airline to say “enough is enough”.
Surely we won’t have to wait two more years… will we? Let us know whether you also think this was a missed opportunity in the comments section below.
(Cover Photo: Sorbis / Shutterstock)
I remember SQ senior VP said publicly when announcing they are planning premium economy that it would be industry best. It turned out to be a me-too.
SQ business class is so far behind it’s embarrassing. Looks like the upcoming seat will simply playing catch up. Is quad suite seat like Qatar coming? Is lounge like Emirate coming?
Indeed, the 787s are in the same boat.
Never would I have thought of looking at other carriers for our travels. How times have changed.
Big mistake again not to retro fit the seats in the ULR A350’s. They are terrible. Having to get out of the seat to make the bed for sleeping, then out again to return to sitting position is not congusive to relaxing long haul travel.
I stayed in Singapore, and have ample chances to choose SIA for my overseas travel. But what I realized is that due to the tremendous demand for their seats now, they have become arrogant, charging higher than industry standards yet deliver as minimum as possible. Of course their minimum service standards are already miles ahead from the US, but after trying out other Asian airlines, I can say that the other airlines are catching up fast with better products and better service standards. Notable is the new Taiwanese airline Starlux.
The fuss about having to get up to make the bed is really hilarious. On a long haul flight you’re gonna get up. Also, most people use the toilet just before sleeping. I found SQs bed to be one of the best. Amazing width and the comfort of sleeping on a mattress instead of seat base was great. Slept 9.5 hours on the JFK to SIN route last year (even more than I do at home!!). The screen being remote control only is a true let down but the rest of the cabin is fine. I suspect a retrofit was difficult due to supply issues. Look at partner Air India. Retrofit delayed 6 months minimum. Look at Korean. Brand New 787-10s sitting in South Carolina waiting for interior fitment. The industry is a mess and will be till ’26.
Honestly the other seat where flipping is not required for sleep is not at all comfortable for sleep. Nothing like CX F…
There’s a lot I could say about the way that SIA is run, but I’ll not bother for now. The simple fact that MH will leapfrog ahead of SIA as of Q3 should be a source of CONSIDERABLE embarrassment.
Everyone will survive not having the latest product installed on a few airplanes. It will be okay. I promise…
You cannot fly premium economy out of Brisbane with either Singapore or Emirates and try getting some sense out of them regarding this issue is an absolute joke: it seems no one cares, no one has had the courtesy to reply to emails I’ve sent both airlines.