In November 2024, Singapore Airlines announced a huge investment into its premium passenger experience, which will see the introduction of all-new cabin products, plus the expansion of first class. These cabins will be retrofitted on dozens of Airbus A350s, and will also be available on newly delivered Boeing 777-9s in the future.
Interestingly, the product was initially supposed to roll out in the coming weeks, but there has still been no product reveal, or anything along those lines. There’s now an update, as this project has just been delayed substantially, and we won’t see our first retrofitted aircraft enter service until 2027. Let’s take a look at all the details.
Singapore Airlines updating 41 Airbus A350-900 cabins
Singapore Airlines will be investing 1.1 billion SGD (~835 million USD) to update the interiors of its entire long haul Airbus A350-900 fleet. This consists of a total of 41 jets, and includes the carrier’s seven A350-900ULRs, with the “ULR” standing for “ultra long range,” as these planes operate the world’s longest flights.
The only A350-900s that won’t be reconfigured are the ones that are specifically designed for regional flights, featuring the same cabin products you’ll find onboard Boeing 787-10s.
With this project, we can expect changes across cabins. We’ll see first class added to the carrier’s ultra long range A350s, an all-new business class product, refreshes to premium economy and economy, plus an updated inflight entertainment system and the installation of Starlink Wi-Fi.
How will the layouts of these jets change, once reconfigured? Singapore Airlines’ standard long haul A350-900s:
- Currently have 253 seats, including 42 business class seats, 24 premium economy seats, and 187 economy seats
- Will have 258 seats, including 42 business class seats, 24 premium economy seats, and 192 economy seats
- The business class and premium economy capacity will remain unchanged, while economy will get five more seats
Singapore Airlines’ ultra long range A350-900s:
- Currently have 161 seats, including 67 business class seats and 94 premium economy seats
- Will have 132 seats, including four first class seats, 70 business class seats, and 58 premium economy seats
- There will be four new first class seats, three more business class seats, and 36 fewer premium economy seats
Singapore Airlines’ new first & business class products
Singapore Airlines will be introducing new first and business class products. This isn’t just some new interim product, but rather this is intended to be the carrier’s new premium product in the long run. The same seats that are being installed on the Airbus A350-900s will also be installed on the carrier’s Boeing 777-9s, so these are very much “flagship” cabins.
Singapore Airlines initially intended to debut new premium cabins on its 777-9s, which were first supposed to be delivered in 2020. However, those have now been pushed back all the way to 2027 at the earliest. So clearly Singapore Airlines decided that it’s finally time to introduce new cabins, even if the 777-9 keeps getting delayed.
Singapore Airlines’ new first class seat
Singapore Airlines will introduce a new first class product on its subfleet of A350-900ULRs, which operate the world’s longest flights. This same product will be available on 777-9s in the future, but won’t be available on standard A350-900s. Furthermore, there are no plans to retrofit existing 777s with this product. A350s will have four of these seats, while 777s will have six of these seats.
Below is the first teaser picture of Singapore Airlines’ new first class.
Currently Singapore Airlines only has first class on its A380s and 777-300ERs, so it’s cool to see this product expand.
Official details about the new first class are limited, other than that it’s “designed with increasingly discerning travellers in mind,” and that the first class seats “promise to deliver an unparalleled in-flight experience.”
We have reason to believe that the new cabin will be in a 1-2-1 layout. Why? Well, Singapore Airlines filed a patent some time back, clearly for the carrier’s new first class product. The patent is for the 777-9, where the airline will have a first class cabin with six seats.
The plan seems to be to have individual suites along the windows, plus a double suite in the center. However, the center suite can be used by either one or two people, so if people are traveling separately, there’s a partition that can go up.
As you can see, there’s a bit of staggering with the cabin, to maximize the width of the suite, as the aisle curves a bit.
This looks like a very nice product, though to be perfectly honest, it doesn’t look like anything revolutionary. Nowadays some of the top first class products are in a 1-1-1 configuration, like what you’ll find on Japan Airlines and Emirates. Admittedly the flexibility of the double suite in the middle is great for those traveling with someone, since that’s not something that was really considered with the new Japan Airlines and Emirates products.
For that matter, we have reason to believe that Cathay Pacific may offer the world’s best first class on its 777-9s, as it could very well be in a 1-1 configuration.
Singapore Airlines’ new business class seat
So far, we have limited information about Singapore Airlines’ new business class product. The airline has released the below rendering, and the company claims that the product will offer greater levels of privacy, comfort, and convenience.
This is super exciting. Singapore Airlines is one of the best airlines in the world, with incredible service, food, drinks, and more. However, at this point the carrier’s business class hard product isn’t really cutting edge anymore.
With details being so limited, all we can do is speculate as of now. So I have a few thoughts:
- It appears to me that the product will be in a staggered configuration, since it doesn’t look like the seat is angled toward the windows or aisles, based on the side table
- The seat will have privacy doors, and they look to be quite high, similar to what you’ll find in many of the top products nowadays
- While I know Singapore Airlines is claiming this is customized, I wonder if this is based on the Safran Unity platform, like what you’ll find in Japan Airlines’ incredible new A350 business class
When will Singapore Airlines’ new premium products debut?
In November 2024, when this project was first announced, Singapore Airlines shared the following timeline for debuting the new first and business class seats:
- The first retrofitted A350-900 was supposed to enter service in the second quarter of 2026
- The first retrofitted A350-900ULR was supposed to enter service in the first quarter of 2027
- The entire retrofit project was supposed to be complete by the end of 2030
Unfortunately there’s some bad news on that front, as reported by Mainly Miles. Singapore Airlines has now revealed that the first retrofitted aircraft isn’t expected to enter service before the first quarter of 2027. The expectation is still that some long range A350s will be reconfigured before the first ultra long range A350 gets a makeover.
The revised timeline reflects industry-wide supply chain constraints, as well as delays in the certification of one of the new seats (a common industry problem). The aircraft will be retrofitted by SIA Engineering Company in Singapore.
While we’ll see how this plays out, based on historical precedent, it’s likely that Sydney (SYD) and London (LHR) will be the first two destinations to get the new cabins, since those are the first destinations where the airline has sent all of its new long haul products.
Bottom line
Singapore Airlines plans to introduce all-new cabins on its Airbus A350-900s, which will also eventually be installed on Boeing 777-9s. Most exciting is an improved new business class product, which is long overdue. Singapore Airlines will also be adding first class to its subfleet of A350-900ULRs, with a boutique cabin having just four seats.
While this product was supposed to enter service as of the second quarter of 2026, the timeline has now been pushed back to the first quarter of 2027, due to supply chain constraints and certification issues… a familiar story! I’m still mighty curious to learn the details of the new cabins, so I hope Singapore Airlines unveils the details soon.
What do you make of Singapore Airlines’ plans to introduce new long haul cabins?