Time to turn our attention away from the Boeing 787 and turn to the other new big aircraft in the air/in development.
Singapore Airlines has finalised an order with Airbus for five A380’s and 20 A350-900 aircraft, with a list price of US$7.5 Billion.
This will boosts the Singapore Airlines cadre of A380’s to 24 aircraft – with 19 in operation at the moment. Only Emirates have more A380’s in fleet/on order (30 in operation, orders for 90).
In addition, Singapore Airlines have expanded their options for A350-900’s. The A350-900 will be taking over medium to long haul routes, doubling the amount of A350-900’s they had on order from 20 to 40.
Deliveries of the A350-900 are expected to being in 2017 – subject to Airbus clearing all the certification and construction hurdles that lie ahead for the A350 project.
However, for those who love the A340-500’s which operate some of Singapore Airlines Ultra Long Haul services (Singapore – Newark International), these will be brought by Airbus as part of the deal – the bottom line is they’re too expensive to fly (remember that a plane has to carry the entire fuel load+extra for a flight – on an ultra-long haul flight, the plane in effect is a flying air tanker – making it expensive to run and expensive to fuel)
As the A350 ramps up, GhettoIFE will continue to monitor the progress of the next modern plane to take to the skies – providing Airbus and its partners get everything right…
A good reason not to fly Singapore Airlines.
Will the new a380 come with suite’s?! Rumor has it to the contrary.