SQ’s new ‘deckchair’ seats to lure high-end travellers
Singapore Airlines has embarked on a costly refurbishment of its seats, space and entertainment options to offer greater comfort for business and leisure travellers.
In a report by Bloomberg, the paper reveals Singapore Airlines has undertaken its costliest revamp of seats in eight years to make them wider, longer and features bigger TV screens in a bid to quash competition from carriers offering butler services or attempts to let passengers sleep from gate-to-gate.
“A revamp prevents defection to other carriers,” Credit Suisse Group AG, transport research head of Asia-Pacific in Singapore, Timothy Ross told the paper.
“The last thing high-net-worth travelers want to do is spend time cooling their heels in Doha or Abu Dhabi or Dubai. No matter how good the champagne is there, I would rather go direct.”
The A$366 million refurbishment across its Boeing 777-300ER fleet will be made across all classes, to be completed by September 2016.
Included in the revamp are bigger screens, expanded to 24 inches in first class, and 18 in business, economy passengers are said to also get bigger screens, yet details were not released.
According to Australian Business Traveller, Singapore Airlines has confirmed it will fly the new business and first class cabins on its daily flights to and from Sydney from November 27.
Currently, SQ are flying three of their ‘newer’ 777 fitted with the larger seats and screens on services to London and Tokyo.
“It reinforces their premium position,” CAPA Centre for Aviation, analyst, Brendan Sobie told Bloomberg.
“It shows that they still have confidence in the top end of the market, which isn’t really a growing market compared to the lower, budget end.”
The carrier is also spending more than S$100 million (A$88.9 million) to upgrade its airport lounges over the next five years, after its first one was completed in Sydney last December.
“Premium-class yields are stable and actually that’s why we continue to invest,” Singapore Airlines chief executive officer Goh Choon Phong told Bloomberg.
“It’s continual improvement we’re making for all the products, whether it’s in-flight entertainment, whether it’s the seat itself.’”
“Demand is generally flat, and yields will remain under pressure amid intense competition from other airlines and promotional activities in weaker markets,” Singapore Airlines said in a statement.
“The operating landscape for the airline industry remains competitive and challenging, as an uncertain global economic climate and geopolitical concerns persist.”
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
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