SINGAPORE Airlines has revealed plans to operate the world’s longest non-stop commercial flights using the ultra long-range Airbus A350-900ULR.
The new aircraft will link Singapore with Newark Liberty International Airport from Oct, flying for 18hrs 45min with a two-class configuration that dispenses with Economy cabins entirely.
As the aircraft’s launch customer, Singapore Airlines will operate the service with 67 Business class seats and 95 Premium economy seats, with bookings open from today.
The service will initially operate three times a week from 11 Oct, expanding to daily from 18 Oct when the carrier introduces an additional aircraft.
At 16,700km, the service will travel further than the current record holder, Qatar’s 14,529km Doha to Auckland route, as well as the 14,496km Qantas operations between Perth and London Heathrow.
“Singapore Airlines has always taken pride in pushing the boundaries to provide the best possible travel convenience for our customers, and we are pleased to be leading the way with these new non-stop flights using the latest-technology, ultra-long-range Airbus A350-900ULR,” said Singapore Airlines ceo Goh Choon Phong.
“The flights will offer our customers the fastest way to travel between the two cities — in great comfort, together with Singapore Airlines’ legendary service – and will help boost connectivity to and through the Singapore hub.”
Singapore Airlines currently has 21 A350-900s in its fleet, with 46 more on order including seven of the ULR variant.
SQ currently serves New York JFK daily via Frankfurt with A380s.
Source: traveldaily