Singapore Airlines’ new 777-9 Premium Economy and Economy: A closer look

Alongside its new First and Business Class, Singapore Airlines today revealed the all-new Premium Economy and Economy Class seats at the back of its upcoming Boeing 777-9 fleet, which is set to become its long-haul flagship in the years ahead.

Both were styled by UK agency Factorydesign, which previously worked with SIA on its Boeing 737-8 MAX Regional Business Class, and both are built by Collins Aerospace, who also make the new First Class seat.

There are some welcome upgrades, including more legroom and bigger 4K screens in Premium Economy, plus 4K screens with Bluetooth audio at every Economy seat.

There are also a few things SIA isn’t shouting so loudly about, including the dreaded 10-abreast Economy layout we’ve been warning about since 2023, a Premium Economy seat that’s narrower than the one it replaces, and some Economy rows that may be tighter than SIA’s usual long-haul legroom.

Let’s take a closer look.

Only on the 777-9

First things first, a reminder on where you’ll actually find these seats. The new Premium Economy and Economy products are exclusive to the Boeing 777-9.

The 34 Airbus A350 Long Haul and seven Airbus A350 ULR aircraft being retrofitted from 2027 will get the new Business Class (plus First Class on the ULRs), but keep their existing seats in Premium Economy and Economy, which are only being refreshed.

That has been the plan since SIA first announced the A350 retrofit programme in November 2024, when it promised Premium Economy and Economy passengers only “refreshed cabin interiors” rather than new seats. It was reiterated with the next-generation KrisWorld details last month, though that seemed to catch a few observers by surprise at the time.

Exactly what the refresh involves still isn’t clear. SIA lists no new screen, 4K display, Bluetooth pairing or USB-C for these cabins on the A350s, so the hardware in front of you will probably look much like today’s, albeit with the new KrisWorld interface, content and spatial audio.

SIA told us it makes these investment decisions aircraft type by aircraft type, though it isn’t ruling out new seats in these cabins on the A350 in future, adding “never say never”.

The refit does change the seat counts, though. The A350 Long Haul squeezes five extra seats into Economy, while the A350 ULR loses 36 Premium Economy seats to make room for its new First Class cabin and three extra Business Class seats.

Singapore Airlines Premium Economy & Economy by aircraft
Cabin	A350 Long Haul	A350 ULR	Boeing 777-9
Premium Economy	24 refreshed	58 (was 94) refreshed	36 all-new
Economy	192 (was 187) refreshed	–	204 all-new

As for timing, SIA says its new cabin products will be introduced from the second half of 2027, but it isn’t yet committing to whether a refitted A350 or a 777-9 will carry them first.

The new seats in the Premium Economy and Economy cabins can only debut on the 777-9.

Boeing still expects first deliveries of that type in 2027, with SIA not quite at the front of the queue for its 31 aircraft on order.

Given the type’s track record, we wouldn’t bank on too many of them actually flying with SIA before the end of the decade, when perhaps a dozen of the type in service will make these new products a more common sight on the network.

New Premium Economy

SIA’s current Premium Economy seats date back to the cabin’s launch in 2015, with ZIM seats on the A380 and 777-300ER and Safran Z535 seats on the A350 Long Haul and ULR. The two look very similar, but they differ in a few key areas.

The 777-9 brings the first all-new Premium Economy seat in over a decade, with 36 seats in a 2-4-2 layout, up from 28 on the four-class 777-300ER.

Sticking with 2-4-2 was always the likely outcome, since it keeps the popular pairs by the window for couples, and SIA already uses it on the even wider Airbus A380 main deck.

More legroom and recline

Seat pitch rises to 40 inches, from 38 inches today, and recline increases by an inch to nine inches, both welcome improvements in this cabin, though pitch still trails the 42 inches Japan Airlines offers in Premium Economy on its A350-1000s.

You also get a leg rest with an adjustable footrest, a four-way adjustable headrest, plush cushioning and full-grain leather upholstery.

SIA’s renders also show no headrest wings or sliding privacy partitions, both features that have appeared on other airlines’ newest Premium Economy seats in recent years, including Lufthansa’s ZIM Privacy seat and the sliding partitions on Japan Airlines’ A350-1000.

British Airways and Emirates have also recently enhanced their latest Premium Economy cabins with additional privacy in mind, but for SIA privacy in this cabin looks much the same as today, which is surprising given the general direction of travel across the industry.

A narrower seat

This one did surprise us. The new seat is 19 inches wide, which is narrower than the ZIM seats it will replace on the 777-300ER.

In our 2023 preview of the 777-9, we expected at least 19.5 inches in this cabin, given the 777-9’s slightly wider cabin compared with the 777-300ER. Instead, it matches the Safran seats on the A350, which has a much narrower fuselage.

Singapore Airlines Premium Economy Seat Width
Aircraft	Seat	Seat Width
Boeing 777-300ER	ZIM	50.0 cm (19.7 in)
Airbus A380	ZIM	50.0 cm (19.7 in)
Boeing 777-9	Collins Aerospace	48.3 cm (19.0 in)
Airbus A350 LH Airbus A350 ULR	Safran Z535	48.0 cm (18.9 in)

SIA hasn’t explained the reduction. Wider armrests and consoles to house the new storage, power and handset would be our guess. We’ll be taking a closer look at the mock-up.

Screens, storage and power

Entertainment moves to a touchscreen of up to 16 inches in 4K, up from 13.3 inches today, with OLED displays on selected aircraft. SIA hasn’t said which specific 777-9s will get OLED, so the 777-9 Premium Economy experience won’t be uniform across the fleet.

Noise-cancelling headphones are provided, but you can now pair your own via Bluetooth, and there’s a dedicated handset for navigating KrisWorld.

Other touches include:

• A cocktail tray, so you can set down a drink or snack without unfolding the main table
• A bi-fold table measuring 17 x 10.5 inches, with a holder for your phone or tablet
• Personal storage compartments, plus the literature pocket
• An adjustable personal reading light
• USB-C ports and universal AC power at every seat, with USB-A ports on selected aircraft

Here’s how the new seat compares with SIA’s current Premium Economy products.

Singapore Airlines Premium Economy Comparison
	777-300ER A380	A350 LH A350 ULR	777-9 new
Seat	ZIM	Safran Z535	Collins Aerospace
Seat pitch	38″	38″	40″
Seat width	19.7″	18.9″	19.0″
Recline	8″	8″	9″
Headrest	4-way	4-way (LH) 6-way (ULR)	4-way
Screen	13.3″	13.3″	Up to 16″ 4K OLED*
Bluetooth audio	No	No	Yes
Power	AC 2 x USB-A	AC 2 x USB-A	AC, USB-C, USB-A*
* OLED / USB-A on selected 777-9s

New Economy Class

Now for the one many SIA fans were dreading. Economy Class on the 777-9 will be 10-abreast, in a 3-4-3 layout, with 204 seats.

This was a bone of contention in our 2023 preview, with plenty of readers convinced SIA would stick with the 3-3-3 layout of its 777-300ERs, but we didn’t think it had much choice.

The 777-9 shares the 777-300ER’s fuselage, but Boeing has thinned the sidewalls to free up around 10 cm of extra cabin width. That isn’t enough to keep 777-300ER seat widths at 10-abreast, but it does make 10-abreast the standard fit for the type, and a large chunk of the 777-9’s per-seat fuel efficiency depends on it.

Many of SIA’s competitors, including Emirates and Qatar Airways, already squeeze 10 seats across their 777-300ERs, so a 9-abreast 777-9 would have been very costly to sustain.

17.6-inch seats

The cost, of course, is seat width. At 17.6 inches, the new seat is 1.4 inches narrower than SIA’s current 777-300ER Economy seat, the widest in the fleet at 19 inches.

It’s also 0.4 inches narrower than the A350, and almost an inch narrower than the A380, which manages 18.5 inches at 10-abreast thanks to its much wider main deck.

Only the 787-10’s Economy seat is fractionally narrower, by just 0.1 inches, and that aircraft mostly flies regional routes of up to seven hours or so. The 777-9 will be flying to cities like London, at 13 to 14 hours.

Singapore Airlines Economy Class Seat Width
Aircraft	Layout	Seat Width
Boeing 777-300ER	3-3-3	48.3 cm (19.0 in)
Airbus A380	3-4-3	47.0 cm (18.5 in)
Airbus A350 LH Airbus A350 MH	3-3-3	45.7 cm (18.0 in)
Boeing 737-8 MAX	3-3	45.0 cm (17.7 in)
Boeing 777-9	3-4-3	44.7 cm (17.6 in)
Boeing 787-10	3-3-3	44.5 cm (17.5 in)

Bigger windows will help

On the plus side, even though there will be a higher chance of sitting in the middle section on SIA’s Boeing 777-9s in Economy Class, the aircraft’s windows are 16% bigger than on the 777-300ER, and are placed 2.5 inches higher than before, so that even middle seat passengers can benefit from a better outside view.

Pitch and recline

SIA quotes Economy pitch on the 777-9 at 31-32 inches. That means at least some rows will fall below the 32 inches SIA currently offers across its long-haul widebody fleet. The airline hasn’t said which rows are affected, or how many.

Recline is quoted at “up to” six inches. That’s an inch more than on the 777-300ER and A380 (five inches), and matches the A350 Long Haul. The wording suggests not every seat will recline that far, perhaps at the very back of the cabin, where recline is sometimes limited by the bulkhead behind.

SIA also says a redesigned recline mechanism improves knee and shin clearance for the passenger behind, while the seat gets ergonomic cushioning, a four-way adjustable headrest and wool-blend upholstery.

Screens and power

Entertainment is on a touchscreen of up to 13 inches in 4K, up from 11.1 inches today, again with OLED on selected aircraft. Wired earphones are provided, but you can pair your own Bluetooth headphones too.

Beneath the main screen is a small secondary display showing real-time flight information, including Wi-Fi status and whether the lavatories are free. It’s a handy touch, potentially saving a wasted trip down the aisle.

There’s also an under-monitor storage space for small items, a cupholder, a coat hook and a 16 x 10.5-inch bi-fold table.

Power is the potential drawback. USB-C ports are fitted at every seat, but universal AC power and USB-A ports will only be on selected aircraft.

Today, every Economy seat on the 777-300ER and A350 Long Haul has its own AC socket, so on some 777-9s Economy passengers may lose the ability to plug in a laptop without a USB-C cable.

Since most laptops now charge via USB-C anyway, this probably won’t matter much in practice, but it’s a backwards step on paper.

Singapore Airlines Economy Class Comparison
	777-300ER	A350 LH	777-9 New
Layout	3-3-3	3-3-3	3-4-3
Seat pitch	32″	32″	31-32″
Seat width	19.0″	18.0″	17.6″
Recline	5″	6″	Up to 6″
Screen	11.1″	11.1″	Up to 13″ 4K OLED*
Bluetooth audio	No	No	Yes
Secondary display	No	No	Yes
Power	AC USB-A	AC USB-A	AC* USB-A* USB-C
* OLED, AC and USB-A on selected 777-9s

One giant cabin?

Singapore Airlines hasn’t published a 777-9 seat map yet, but 204 Economy seats is almost exactly the 200 that Boeing’s own layout fits, mostly in 3-4-3, into the single cabin section behind the third pair of doors on the eight-door 777-9 variant SIA has chosen.

That makes it very likely that all of Economy sits in that one rear section, with no Economy seats ahead of the third door pair at all. SIA looks to have squeezed in four more seats than Boeing’s example layout, which may be achieved by alternative galley / toilet locations.

The result would be one long cabin of around 20 rows, with no doors or bulkheads to break it up, making it the largest single Economy section in SIA’s widebody fleet. With only one forward bulkhead row, it will also inevitably mean fewer extra legroom seats than the two rows found on today’s 777-300ER.

How did our 2023 predictions stack up?

With the full 777-9 layout now confirmed, here’s how it compares with the educated guess in our December 2023 preview.

To be fair, we weren’t exactly going out on a limb. In most cabins we just based the ranges on a simple 15% uplift over the 777-300ER, because the 777-9 is around 15% larger.

Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-9 Seating Layout
Cabin	777-300ER	777-9 Our 2023 Guess	777-9 Actual
First Class	4	4-8	6
Business Class	48	50-60	54
Premium Economy	28	30-34	36
Economy	184	200-220	204
Total	264	284-322	300

Premium Economy came in above our range, with SIA adding eight seats rather than the two to six we expected, but the other cabins landed inside it, and we did say the total was likely to be “closer to just 300 seats” – spot on (by luck)!

On the cabin detail:

• 10-abreast Economy: Yes
• Economy seat width of around 17.5 inches: Yes, at 17.6 inches
• Economy screens of around 13 inches in 4K, plus USB-C: Yes
• 32-inch Economy pitch retained: Partly, with some rows at 31 inches
• 2-4-2 Premium Economy: Yes
• Premium Economy at least 19.5 inches wide: No, it’s 19 inches
• Better privacy in Premium Economy: No, at least not from what we can see in the renders

Singapore Airlines’ new Premium Economy and Economy seats bring the back of the plane up to date, with bigger 4K screens, Bluetooth audio and USB-C at every seat, a secondary flight information display in Economy, and two extra inches of legroom in Premium Economy.

There are some downsides though. Economy goes 10-abreast with 17.6-inch seats, some rows will drop to 31 inches of pitch, and AC power is no longer guaranteed. Premium Economy, meanwhile, is 0.7 inches narrower than the 777-300ER seat it replaces.

None of that will affect you for a while yet. These seats are exclusive to the 777-9, which isn’t expected to fly with SIA until the second half of 2027 at the earliest, while the A350s will only get a refresh of their existing seats.

So for most SIA Premium Economy and Economy passengers, today’s seats will remain the norm for several years to come.

You can find more details on SIA’s new travel experience page.

What do you make of SIA’s new Premium Economy and Economy seats? Would 10-abreast put you off the 777-9? Let us know in the comments section below.

(Cover Image: Singapore Airlines)