Singapore Airlines took delivery of an Airbus A350-900 ultra-long-range aircraft on Sunday to start a direct service to New York. The journey, lasting roughly 19 hours, will probably be the longest on the planet.
Bloomberg says the primary business flight between Singapore and Newark Liberty International Airport will operate on October 11, Singapore Air said in an announcement yesterday. This is the primary of seven A350-900ULR aircraft that the carrier has placed with Airbus.
The resumption of the route, which the Singapore carrier canceled greater than 4 years ago, will help the carrier fill a spot in its U.S. network that has been exploited by rivals including Qantas Airways and Cathay Pacific Airways.
Singapore Air’s latest service, which can overtake Qatar Airways’ Doha-Auckland route because the world’s longest, will initially offer three flights in the primary week, rising to each day flights from October 18.
In November, Singapore Airlines will use the aircraft for direct flights to Los Angeles.
According to Traveler, the plane serving the route from Singapore to New York will offer only premium seats – 67 seats in business class and 94 seats in premium economy class. This is an identical setup to when Singapore previously flew the identical route using a four-engine Airbus A340 that was equipped only with business class seats.
Here are a few of the features of the Singapore Air A350-900ULR aircraft:
- The plane can fly for about 20 hours non-stop. The flight to New York will cover a distance of roughly 16,700 kilometers and the journey time will probably be as much as 18 hours and 45 minutes.
- The aircraft is configured in a two-class layout with 67 seats in business class and 94 seats in premium economy class
- The ULR is a variant of the A350, with the important change from the usual aircraft being a modified fuel system. This will allow the aircraft to carry 165,000 liters of fuel, a rise of 24,000 liters: Airbus
- The plane also has a variety of aerodynamic improvements, including prolonged winglets: Airbus
The seven A350-900ULR aircraft ordered by Singapore Airlines are currently the one aircraft ordered from Airbus by any airline.
However, Qantas is considering the brand new long-haul aircraft as a possible solution to the challenge of ‘Project Sunrise’, which goals to introduce non-stop flights between Australia’s east coast capitals and London and New York by 2022.
