Silkair, the regional wing of Singapore Airlines (SIA), has confirmed it will begin outfitting its fleet of Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft with a new flatbed business class seat developed by manufacturer Thompson Aero, with retrofitting set to begin in May next year.
The new seats form part of the airline’s S$100 million (US$74.4 million) investment programme announced last May that will see the airline upgrade its business class seats and in-flight entertainment ahead of the airline’s planned merger with Singapore Airlines at a future date.
Details of the seat are so far slim; however, Silkair has confirmed the seats will be configured in a staggered, forward-facing layout “in line with SIA’s regional business class offering on its Airbus A350-900 medium-haul and Boeing 787-10 fleets”, the airline said in a statement.
These seat products are based on the Solstys III model from Stelia Aerospace, and debuted on Singapore Airlines’ 787-10 in March 2018 before also being rolled out onto its new medium-haul configured A350-900s in December.
For a run down of the various off-the-rack seat products available on the market and the airlines that use them, take a look at our in-depth Business Class Seat Guide.
Singapore Airlines’ existing regional business class seat is laid out in 1-2-1 configuration and is able to recline to form a fully flat bed that is 76 inches long and 26 inches wide.
Silkair will retrofit its existing five B737 Max 8s with the new lie-flat seats from Thompson Aero, as well as installing them on the other 32 Max 8s that it has on order.
The airline took delivery of its first Max 8 aircraft in October 2017, featuring 12 business class seats (pictured above) laid out in a 2-2 configuration.
Silkair is set to merge with Singapore Airlines once a “sufficient number of aircraft” have been retrofitted with the new seat products.
