Singapore Airlines spends over S$2 billion on new long-haul cabins, but seats delayed to late 2027

Singapore Airlines (SIA) unveiled its all-new long-haul First Class, Business Class, Premium Economy and Economy Class seats at Marina Bay Sands on Friday (November 6), investing more than S$2 billion (about US$1.5 billion) across 72 aircraft — the largest cabin investment in the airline's history. But supply chain constraints and seat certification mean the new cabins will only enter service progressively from the second half of 2027.

A double bed in First Class, sliding doors in Business

The centre pair of new First Class suites forms what SIA calls the largest double bed in commercial aviation, while the new Business Class seats have sliding doors. The ultra-long-range A350-900ULR will carry just 132 seats — four First Class suites, 70 Business Class seats and 58 Premium Economy seats, with no conventional Economy cabin. The new Economy seats will only be fitted on the Boeing 777-9.

Repeated delays as certification remains the hurdle

The new cabins were first due to debut with the A350 retrofit in the second quarter of 2026, then slipped to the first quarter of 2027 in May, and now to the second half of 2027 — more than a year behind the original plan. Chief Commercial Officer Lee Lik Hsin said the delay stems from industry-wide supply chain constraints and certification of one of the new seats: the seats are certified for the Boeing 777-9 but not yet for the A350, and the 777-9 itself has yet to receive US Federal Aviation Administration certification.

The new cabins will be fitted progressively to 41 retrofitted Airbus A350-900 long-haul and ultra-long-range aircraft and to the 31 Boeing 777-9s on order. Lee said that despite the repeated slips, the full programme is still expected to be completed by the end of 2030; the airline's 12 Airbus A380s are not part of the programme.

(Sources: Singapore Airlines, Simple Flying, Aviation Week, Mainly Miles.)