{"id":186359,"date":"2024-11-04T10:30:43","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T10:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/?p=186359\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T14:03:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T14:03:47","slug":"singapore-airlines-a350-retrofit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/news\/airlines\/singapore-airlines-a350-retrofit\/","title":{"rendered":"Singapore Airlines Unveils A350 Retrofit Plans, Including New First- and Business-Class Seats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In 2018, Singapore Airlines reclaimed the world's longest flight mantle by relaunching its direct route between Singapore and New York City using a specially designed Airbus A350-900ULR aircraft. <span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">Today, Singapore Airlines is announcing <\/span><span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">a massive S$1.1 billion (US$835 million) retrofit of its Airbus A350-900 fleet that should elevate the experience on this and other U.S. routes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the most exciting part is that Singapore Airlines <span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">will add a first-class cabin to its Airbus A350-900ULR aircraft used on its longest routes. Singapore Airlines also plans to install its new business class seat across its entire Airbus A350-900 fleet, as well as &#8220;refreshing&#8221; its premium economy and economy cabins.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Here's what we know so far from today's announcement.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Singapore_Airlines_A350_Retrofit_Details\">Singapore Airlines A350 Retrofit Details<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Singapore Airlines plans to overhaul the travel experience across its entire 41 Airbus A350-900 fleet. However, the details vary between its two types of aircraft: A350-900 vs. A350-900ULR.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">First, the similarities. Singapore Airlines will install its new business-class suite across its entire Airbus A350-900 fleet. This seat design will match what the airline will install on its upcoming Boeing 777-9 aircraft. <\/span><span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">The media release of this new seat is heavy on the mystique and light on details:<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_186361\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-aspectratio=\"750\/600\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-186361 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Singapore-Airlines-new-A350-Business-Class-300x240.jpg\" alt=\"Singapore Airlines new A350 business class suite\" width=\"750\" height=\"600\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Singapore-Airlines-new-A350-Business-Class-300x240.jpg 300w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Singapore-Airlines-new-A350-Business-Class-1024x819.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Singapore-Airlines-new-A350-Business-Class-768x614.jpg 768w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Singapore-Airlines-new-A350-Business-Class-325x260.jpg 325w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Singapore-Airlines-new-A350-Business-Class.jpg 1350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><center><em>Credit: Singapore Airlines<\/em><\/enter><\/figure>\n<h3><span id=\"Singapore_Airlines_A350-900\">Singapore Airlines A350-900<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Singapore Airlines currently operates 34 Airbus A350-900 long-haul aircraft. This fleet is currently split into two different seating arrangements. However, Singapore plans to harmonize this seating arrangement. After the retrofit, all Singapore A350-900 aircraft will offer:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>42 business class seats<\/li>\n<li>24 premium economy seats<\/li>\n<li>192 economy seats<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span id=\"Singapore_Airlines_A350-900ULR\">Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Singapore uses a specially-designed version of the A350-900 on its longest flights. This aircraft type is given the designation &#8220;ULR&#8221; for Ultra Long Range. On this version of its A350, Singapore Airlines plans to install:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>4 first-class seats<\/li>\n<li>70 business class seats<\/li>\n<li>58 premium economy seats<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For comparison, Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR aircraft currently have 67 business class seats and 94 premium economy seats \u2014 with no economy class seating.<\/p>\n<p>That's already an incredibly premium-heavy arrangement. This retrofit will only make it more so with the addition of four first-class seats and three business-class seats at the expense of 36 premium economy seats.<\/p>\n<h3><span id=\"Retrofit_timeline\">Retrofit timeline<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The bad news: Travelers will need to wait a while before experiencing these new products. Singapore Airlines notes that its first retrofitted Airbus A350-900 isn't expected to enter service until the second quarter of 2026. And the first retrofit A350-900ULR &#8212; used on the Singapore-New York route &#8212; won't take flight until 2027. Singapore Airlines expects to finish the retrofit program by the end of 2030.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"How_to_Book_Singapore_Airlines_Awards\">How to Book Singapore Airlines Awards<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Singapore Airlines is typically stingy with releasing award availability to partner award programs &#8212; <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/airlines\/air-canada-aeroplan\/book-singapore-airlines-awards\/\" rel=\"noopener\">with the notable exception of Aeroplan<\/a>. That means you'll want to <a href=\"\/credit-cards\/best-flexible-rewards-points-travel\/\">accumulate\u00a0transferable points<\/a> that transfer to Singapore KrisFlyer or Air Canada Aeroplan. Thankfully, travelers have no lack of ways to build up balances in either program:<\/p>\n<div class=\"transfer-times\"><div class=\"tt-row\"><div class=\"tt-head tt-from\">From<\/div><div class=\"tt-head tt-to\">To<\/div><div class=\"tt-head tt-ratio\">Transfer Ratio<\/div><div class=\"tt-head tt-mintransfer\">Min.Transfer<\/div><div class=\"tt-head tt-avg\">Average Time<\/div><\/div><div class=\"tt-row\"><div class=\"tt-body tt-from\"><div class=\"tt-body-wrap\"><div><a href=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/hotels\/marriott-bonvoy\/marriott-transfer-partners\/?cid=transfer-times-transfer&mid=web\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Marriott (Bonvoy)<\/a><\/div><span class=\"tt-arrow\">\u2794<\/span><\/div><\/div><div class=\"tt-body tt-to\"><div class=\"tt-body-wrap\"><span class=\"tt-arrow\">\u2794<\/span><div>Air Canada (Aeroplan)<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"tt-body tt-ratio\">3:1<\/div><div class=\"tt-body tt-mintransfer\">3,000<\/div><div class=\"tt-body tt-avg\"><div class=\"tt-avg-days\">4 days - 5 days<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"tt-row\"><div class=\"tt-body tt-from\"><div class=\"tt-body-wrap\"><div><a href=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/hotels\/marriott-bonvoy\/marriott-transfer-partners\/?cid=transfer-times-transfer&mid=web\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Marriott (Bonvoy)<\/a><\/div><span class=\"tt-arrow\">\u2794<\/span><\/div><\/div><div class=\"tt-body tt-to\"><div class=\"tt-body-wrap\"><span class=\"tt-arrow\">\u2794<\/span><div>Singapore Airlines (KrisFlyer)<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"tt-body tt-ratio\">3:1<\/div><div class=\"tt-body tt-mintransfer\">3,000<\/div><div class=\"tt-body tt-avg\"><div class=\"tt-avg-days\">4 days<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>As the retrofit is scheduled to take years, we can't know what award rates will be at the time. But you can currently use as few as 60,000 Aeroplan points to fly Singapore Airlines business class from New York (JFK) to Frankfurt (FRA):<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_186365\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-aspectratio=\"900\/212\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-186365 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Singapore-Airlines-business-class-award-JFK-FRA-via-Aeroplan-300x71.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of Singapore Airlines award from New York to Frankfurt via Air Canada Aeroplan\" width=\"900\" height=\"212\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Singapore-Airlines-business-class-award-JFK-FRA-via-Aeroplan-300x71.png 300w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Singapore-Airlines-business-class-award-JFK-FRA-via-Aeroplan-1024x241.png 1024w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Singapore-Airlines-business-class-award-JFK-FRA-via-Aeroplan-768x181.png 768w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Singapore-Airlines-business-class-award-JFK-FRA-via-Aeroplan-1536x362.png 1536w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Singapore-Airlines-business-class-award-JFK-FRA-via-Aeroplan.png 1852w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><center><em>Credit: Singapore Airlines<\/em><\/enter><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Related:<\/strong> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/airlines\/best-singapore-krisflyer-awards\/\" rel=\"noopener\">The Best Sweet Spots for Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Awards<\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Bottom_Line\">Bottom Line<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Early this morning U.S. time, Singapore Airlines announced a massive retrofit to its Airbus A350 fleet. Details are still slim and it will be a while before travelers get to experience this new product. But it's exciting to hear one of our favorite airlines is heavily investing in improving the travel experience.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ftoc\"><div id=\"toc_container\" class=\"toc_light_blue no_bullets\"><p class=\"toc_title\">Page Contents<\/p><ul class=\"toc_list\"><li><a href=\"#Singapore_Airlines_A350_Retrofit_Details\">Singapore Airlines A350 Retrofit Details<\/a><ul><li><a href=\"#Singapore_Airlines_A350-900\">Singapore Airlines A350-900<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#Singapore_Airlines_A350-900ULR\">Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#Retrofit_timeline\">Retrofit timeline<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><a href=\"#How_to_Book_Singapore_Airlines_Awards\">How to Book Singapore Airlines Awards<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#Bottom_Line\">Bottom Line<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Early this morning U.S. time, Singapore Airlines announced an exciting retrofit to its Airbus A350 fleet, which includes the aircraft it flies on the world&#8217;s longest flight. Here&#8217;s what we know so far about this retrofit and when you can expect to fly Singapore Airlines&#8217; new business and first-class seats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":186361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12069],"tags":[12773,12628],"coauthors":[36387],"class_list":["post-186359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-singapore-krisflyer","tag-travel-experience"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186359"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256621,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186359\/revisions\/256621"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186359"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=186359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}