Citing consistently strong demand from business travelers, Singapore Airlines has announced plans to convert its five Airbus A340-500 ultra-long-range aircraft into an all-Business Class configuration, on daily flights between New York and Singapore, and Los Angeles and Singapore. The current 2-class, 181 seat, configuration will be replaced with 100 of the airline’s new, Business Class seats in a 1-2-1, configuration. The new Business Class seats are the same design as those installed on the Airline’s A380 and B777-300ER fleet.
The implementation will be phased in gradually from mid-May, 2008, on the New York (Newark) to Singapore route, with daily services in the new configuration to New York by the end of June, and Los Angeles by late September 2008. The program will require each of the five aircraft to be retrofitted in turn.