Singapore Airlines unveils new cabins

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has announced the launch of new range of cabin products.

To be rolled out from September 2013 onwards, initially on the Singapore-London route, the new first, business and economy class cabins will feature new seats and a brand new in-flight entertainment system, based on touch-screen technology. It will initially be adopted on SIA’s eight Boeing 777-300ER aircraft before being extended to the airline’s fleet of Airbus A350s as and when they join the fleet.

The IFE system adopted by SIA is Panasonic Avionics’ new eX3 system, which will offer the ability for passengers to simultaneously watch movies, browse the latest news headlines or  check the aircraft’s flight path. Customers may use the handset as a touchscreen pad to navigate the IFE content.

“The significant investment… demonstrates our confidence in the future for premium full-service air travel,” said SIA’s executive vice president of commercial, Mak Swee Wah. “Special attention has been given to ergonomics, comfort, convenience and design, as well as to our customers’ interests and lifestyles.”

The new first class seats are 35 inches (89cm) wide and stretch out to form 82-inch beds – two inches longer than the current first class flat-bed. They also feature curved side panels for extra privacy, padded headboards and additional mattress layers. The seats also come with new reading and working lights, USB ports, leather-lined storage compartments, power sockets, HDMI ports and 24-inch LCD IFE screens with touch-screen handsets.

The new business class seats convert to 78-inch flat-beds, which SIA said are the “industry’s widest full-flat bed”. It also offers two new seating positions – ‘Lazy Z’ and ‘Sundeck’. There is also a new laptop storage area, power sockets, USB ports, HDMI ports and reading lights, plus an 18-inch LCD IFE monitor.

Finally the new economy class cabin comes equipped with more legroom and new back- and neck-rests, plus 11.1-inch seatback IFE monitors.