SIA’s newly configured A380 set for Europe

Singapore Airlines is poised to bring its latest A380 superjumbo into London Heathrow and Zurich, featuring an all-business class upper deck. As readers may remember, the carrier’s latest batch of A380s (now being delivered from the Airbus factory in Toulouse) comprise business class seating along the entire upper deck. It means that business class capacity increases from 60 to 86 seats while the number of economy class seats is cut from 399 to 311. SIA has designated these newer A380s (which have the larger business cabin to meet demand) to cover routes out of Singapore to prime commercial cities in Australia, Europe and the USA. Sydney was the first destination to see the latest A380 with Los Angeles (via Tokyo Narita) having recently come on line. And now, according to airlineroute.net SIA plans to bring its new A380s into London Heathrow and Zurich with effect from October 1. Business Traveller has checked the seating plans on singaporeair.com for dates in October and the extended business class upper deck A380 is shown as operating:

• Singapore-London flight SQ318 at 1245, returning with SQ321 out of Heathrow at 2205
• Singapore-Zurich with SQ346 at 0120, returning home with SQ345 at 1145

Details of other European routes likely to see the new A380s remain a secret. But do not be surprised to see this aircraft eventually taking over additional services into London Heathrow and being rostered for Frankfurt and Paris CDG too. Drawbacks? Business class passengers are the clear winners here. But canny economy class passengers will lament the fact that SIA’s cosy (economy class) cabin at the rear of the upper deck will disappear. Economy class passengers will now have to sit downstairs. One word of caution. Airlines can and do make aircraft changes from time to time for operational reasons. So please bear this fact in mind. To view a seatplan of the SIA A380 configured for an all-business class upper deck, click here. For more information visit singaporeair.com. Report by Alex McWhirter For a comparison of the six airlines currently operating the A380, including images, Tried and tested reviews, seatplans and videos, click here.