There’s plenty of press regarding the new Singapore Airlines Business and First Class Products. And as usual – nothing in Economy Class.
Well, at Economy Class and Beyond we like to look at economy seats too. So lets take a deep dive into them.
Dr. Mark Hiller, Chief Executive Officer Recaro aircraft Seating and Goh Choon Phong, Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Airlines – Recaro.
The seats are based on Recaro’s CL3710 seat.
Front of the Recaro C3710 seats for Singapore Airlines – Note the headrest – Image, Recaro.
So we can see the seat from the front isn’t too far off the standard CL3710 – and again, that’s a good thing as it’s a comfortable seat for extended duration flights. The seats – whilst slimline – have a reasonable amount of padding so they’re not uncomfortable
The seat in demonstration form at Aircraft Interiors Expo 2017 – Image, Economy Class and Beyond.
The headrest is a five-way adjustable unit, so it’s quiet easy to get a comfortable shape from it.
Let’s look at the back of the seat – where the real fun is, and where Recaro and Singapore Airlines have been hard at work.
Back of the new Singapore Airlines Recaro CL3710 Economy Class seat – Image, Recaro.
It seems there’s a lot of customisation in the back of the seat – with a LOT of new features. The big stand-out ones are the IFE screen (which can be massive), and the leg-rest (always welcome on a long haul flight). But there are other details too – such as a decent cup holder (meaning you don’t have to deploy a tray to have a drink safely, USB Charging, 2 mains sockets between three seats, flight attendant call system on the seat itself, and a contactless card reader (for those who wish to spend money in the air).
The seat also features an amenity holder for a mobile phone or eyeglasses below the in-flight entertainment monitor and a vanity mirror integrated into the back of the tray table. There are also separate pockets for personal items as well as the main literature pocket.
The seat will initially be launching on the new delivery Airbus A380 (along with Singapore Airlines new products) and also aboard refurbished aircraft. The seats will also fly in 2018 aboard the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner. Over 18,000 seats will be deployed on the Singapore Airlines fleet.
Dr. Mark Hiller, Chief Executive Officer of Recaro states:
“We are proud that our CL3710 economy class seat is now being used on the Singapore Airlines fleet. As a German aircraft seat manufacturer and world market leader in economy class seats, we are delighted to once again partner with Singapore Airlines and to support the airline with a very unique seat to deliver the best service”
Long haul seats have to be one thing: comfortable. It doesn’t matter what class you’re flying – if your seat rocks, or if the seat pan isn’t comfortable – it becomes unpleasant to fly. I’ve found the Recaro seats to be normally on-point with comfort, and for airlines – low weight seats means better costs in the long term.
Singapore Airlines will place 343 of these seats on the main deck of their A380 aircraft, configured in a 3-4-3 formation, with 32″ seat pitch. In some configurations, this higher than some seat counts – but if passenger comfort can be maintanted – this should be an easy win.
The best news from this is that Singapore Airlines will not be the first to jump and deploy the much vaunted 3-5-3 seating Airbus are pushing.
And that can only be a good thing.
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