Singapore Airlines will see a huge transition in services between its group airlines in the coming years. These changes are in line with the gradual phasing out of the SilkAir brand. Singapore Airlines currently operates its regional Airbus A330s to a number of cities in India. It also operates the Airbus A350 to Mumbai, Boeing 787-10 to New Delhi, and the Airbus A380 to both Mumbai and New Delhi and a few Boeing 777 services also.
As a part of the service changes, Singapore Airlines will be taking over the route currently operated by a Scoot Airbus A320 from May 17, 2019. The good news is Singapore Airlines will be rostering a regional Airbus A350 to that route. This will represent a significant capacity upgrade on the route. Singapore Airlines has 3 different Airbus A350-900 configuration in their fleet.
- 161 seat A350-900ULR for Ultra Long Haul routes (67 Business class, 94 Premium Economy seats)
- 253 seat A350-900 for Long Haul routes (42 Business class, 24 Premium Economy, 187 Economy seats)
- 303 seat A350-900 regional for Mid-Haul routes (40 Business class, 263 Economy seats)
Both the Boeing 787-10 and Airbus A350-900 regional aircraft feature the same Stelia Aerospace Business Class seats. Both regional aircraft do not feature a Premium Economy cabin.
Singapore Airlines A350 regional Business Class
Business Class will be in a staggered forward facing 1-2-1 configuration. Economy class will be in a 3-3-3 configuration.
Singapore Airlines A350 regional Economy
If you notice the front 7 rows in Economy cabin are marked as a Forward zone. According to Singapore Airlines, Forward Zone Seats enable you to be among the first in Economy Class to disembark the plane. You may select these seats in advance for free when you book a Flexi fare type. When you book a Lite or Standard fare type, you may select a Forward Zone Seat in advance for a fee starting from USD8 per flight segment.
The schedule for the flight is,
SQ504 SIN2220-0005(+1)BLR 359 567
SQ505 BLR0120-0825SIN 359 167
Economy Class starts at INR 22.7 k roundtrip,
Singapore Airlines BLR-SIN A350 Economy class
And Business class starts at INR 1.24 Lakh roundtrip.
Singapore Airlines BLR-SIN A350 Business class
Bottomline
Bengaluru will be the second airport in India to get a Singapore Airlines A350 service after Mumbai and the first to receive a regional A350 service. Other airports will gradually see a shift to regional A350s and 787-10s as Singapore Airlines is gradually retiring their A330 fleet. This was something that Singapore Airlines Country Manager David Lim confirmed to Live From A Lounge in a conversation late October.
Are you excited about the new Singapore Airlines A350 service to Bengaluru? What are your predictions for the timeline of the other routes destined to get the A350/B787 regional service?
Didn’t understand this line “first to receive a regional A350 service”?
Anyways it will be so much better than Jet, which deploys a 737 on the route.
@Rocky, SQ has different configurations for regional flights (till 8 hours) and long hauls. Hence “regional” is important here to the conversation.
Hyderabad still has the 737 service on silkair. Really annoying because it costs the same # of miles as a flight to Mumbai or Delhi on the long haul product.