Singapore Airlines (SIA) is to launch the first non-stop flights between South-East Asia and the US West Coast early next year, following delivery of its first two Airbus A340-500s in December.
The airline will start Singapore-Los Angeles services in February, using the aircraft in a two-class 181-seat layout, with 64 in business class and 117 in a new executive economy class. This is a low-density configuration for the A340-500 - the typical three-class layout advertised by Airbus is 313 seats.
SIA will receive its last three -500s next year ahead of the launch in August of non-stop Singapore-New York services. "Unless we can offer non-stop flights between Singapore and the USA, we can not make full use of our open-skies agreement," says senior executive vice-president commercial Michael Tan.
SIA says the 14,600km (7,900nm) non-stop flights to Los Angeles will cut flying times by up to 2h compared to its one-stop flights, while the New York flights will cut them by up to 6h. One-stop flights will be retained.
Source: Flight International
