SilkAir has selected Thompson Aero Seating's Vantage line for the upgrade of its business class seats on its Boeing 737 Max 8 fleet.
The upgrades, which will commence in May 2020, will feature lie-flat business class seats in line with SIA's business class product on its medium-haul Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 787-10s.
SIA adds that the new seats will be retrofitted on the five 737 Max 8s already in operation with SilkAir, and will be installed on the outstanding 32 units on order.
The carrier, however, declined to share the seat configuration of the new business class seats.
Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that SilkAir's 737 Max 8s currently are configured with 12 business class seats.
In addition, SIA says that SilkAir will continue to take delivery of 737 Max 8s with the existing seats. Fleets Analzyer suggests that the regional arm will receive eight more jets this year.
The Star Alliance carrier says the seats upgrade is part of the process to merge SilkAir into the parent airline after 2020.
SIA has said that the upgrade programme will comprise investment of more than S$100 million ($74 million), which will also see the installation of seat-back in-flight entertainment systems in both business class and economy class.
Story updated to reflect SilkAir's delivery schedule for 2019.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
