Last year, Singapore Airlines announced that it would be introducing a new premium economy class to its Boeing 777 and Airbus A380 fleet in the second half of 2015. Airline Route, a website that tracks airline schedule changes in the Global Distribution System (GDS), used by airlines to distribute ticketing information to travel agents is now reporting that Singapore Airlines have updated the GDS to reflect what is likely a draft schedule of Premium Economy flights.
Premium Economy sits between Economy and Business class in terms of product and amenity, and was largely created as the gap between Economy and Business class grew, with the introduction of fully lie flat sleeper beds in the Business Class cabin. It usually consists of a larger seat and better meals than the economy cabin. Singapore Airlines has not yet revealed the details of its Premium Economy product, so exactly whether it is more of an economy plus or business minus type product remains to be seen.
According to the information posted there, the first scheduled flight for the Singapore Airlines A380 is the SQ221/232 service between Singapore and Sydney starting on 9 August. The first of the B777 routes is also between Singapore and Sydney, operating the SQ231/222 services from 12 August.
Following those initial flights, the GDS is currently indicating the Premium Economy will be on the following A380 routes:
- Paris from 28 September,
- Delhi from 13 October,
- Mumbai from 21 October,
- Auckland from 25 October,
- Tokyo/Los Angeles 1 December,
- Frankfurt/New York 14 December and,
- Zurich from 27 December 27.
For the B777
- London Heathrow from 2 September,
- Frankfurt from September 24,
- Munich/Manchester from October 20,
- Dubai from 5 January and
- Seoul/San Francisco from 6 January
What happens after January 2016 is unclear as that time is on the limits of what is normally made available in the GDS.
Configuration Changes
Based on the configuration statistics provided, the addition of the premium economy cabin is coming at the expense of the other cabins. In the case of the A380 this is pretty much limited to the economy cabin. The new 36 seat Premium Economy cabin comes with the reduction of the Economy cabin from 389 (or 311) seats down to 333 (or 245) seats. The First and Business Class cabins on the A380 will remain as is.
Things look very different on the Boeing 777 though. In this case, cuts appear to be coming from First and Economy, with Business actually gaining a few seats. First Class appears to halve from 8 seats to 4 seats, Business Class increases from 42 to 48 seats, and Economy drops from 228 to 184. These changes make way for a 28 seat Premium Economy cabin.
This is all, of course, unconfirmed by Singapore Airlines, and remains subject to change.