Singapore Airlines’ Revolutionary New A380 Suites, Business Class

On Thursday, November 2nd Singapore Airlines unveiled their new Suites, Business, and Economy class products live from a ceremony in Singapore. SIA will eventually retrofit its entire A380 fleet with these seats, although the newest 5 A380’s will be the first aircraft to receive the new products.

Suites Class

This is a stunning. Singapore has generously sacrificed the single most important commodity on an airplane in an effort to increase the customer experience: space. Each passenger will receive a comfortable lounging chair, bed, in-desk storage space, and entry table. While this is unconfirmed, I speculate that a tray table may slide out from inside of the entry table.

Additionally, the suites have a dividing wall, which can be lowered to create a “mega suite,” if you will. These ultra large rooms target couples traveling together, and would create a double bed big enough for two passengers.

Personally, I love the creme colored finishes highlighted with deliberately selected orange accents. The color scheme creates a soothing, open space that rivals the experience of a luxury train cabin.

Here are the Suites’ bathrooms, which look very spacious. Note that Singapore has opted to install these without showers (like on Etihad and Emirates).

Lets take a look at the new SIA Business Class.

Business Class

Singapore really didn’t need to update their business class, as they just introduced a very impressive new product on their A350’s. Lets get the obvious out of the way… These are  industry leading, beautiful, and private seats.  I should also note that at first glance, the level of thought and detail put into these seats is extremely impressive. There are meticulously placed cubbies and storage spaces scattered perfectly around the seat. This allows passengers quick access to stowed belongings and electronics.

Essentially, this seat is everything a passenger could want in a business class product. But here is where it gets really interesting…

Singapore is introducing double beds in business class!

From the photo, we can tell that the center seats will have the ability to convert into a fully flat bed, big enough to share with a spouse or partner if traveling together. The only other airline to offer double beds in business class is Qatar Airways, who just recently introduced the product with their new Q-Suites.

While SIA’s new business class is no doubt marvelous, it is interesting to note that the airline chose a product that lacks doors. The new business class trend we are seeing has airline’s (like Qatar and Delta) installing fully enclosed suites in the premium cabin, and then not offering a true first class product. As a result, I can infer that Singapore must be very confident in this new product, as it went ahead and stuck with an open (yet still private) seat.

One aspect that I feel may encounter some preliminary criticism are the business class center seats. If passengers are traveling alone, it looks like the divider is relatively thin potentially a bit shorter than the actual seat height. If this is true, it may lead to some uncomfortable eye contact or the feeling of having somebody seated right next to you.

From a passenger standpoint, lets hope these dividers rise the length of the seat.

For what its worth, here are a few photos of premium economy and economy class. Nothing groundbreaking here, but still worth showing.

To the Point!

In my opinion, both of these products can already be considered industry leading. Heck, the suites may just be the best first class product in the world. Announcements like the one today only reinforce Singapore’s status as one of the worlds five best international airlines.

I really admire how the airline “beats to its own drum.” They went out and invented an entirely new first class hard product the likes of which the world has never seen before. I suppose the closest we can imaging to this is the Etihad “Residence” or “Apartment”.