SQ A330 to serve PER daily

[Montague S]

rumour has it it might be happening from April. probably on SQ 224/225 first then the other flights from later in the year.

[lloyd fox]

I posted this Montague

http://yssyforum.net/board/showthrea...SINGAPORE+A330

[Montague S]

well its now official.

News Releases

Australian, Japanese Cities To Be First For New A330 Operations
30 December 2008

Singapore Airlines will introduce its new Airbus A330-300 regional aircraft on routes to Australian and Japanese cities, progressively from end March 2009.

The first of 19 new A330-300s will be delivered to Singapore Airlines by Airbus in mid-January. Initially, the aircraft will be used to complete pilot conversion, and thereafter, operate some short sectors between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore and Jakarta, during late February and March.

Its full entry into commercial service will occur on 30 March 2009, and to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the commencement of Singapore Airlines flights between the two cities, the first route will be between Singapore and Brisbane.

From April, services between Singapore and Perth will be progressively converted from the existing B777 operations to A330; conversion will be completed in May. The daily flight between Adelaide and Singapore will be converted by June.

Also in June, following delivery of the eighth aircraft, the A330 will debut on Japan routes, with the daily service to Nagoya to be converted from B777 operations. By March 2010, the daily B777 service to Osaka will be replaced with the A330.

The A330-300 twin-engine wide-body aircraft will be configured with 285 seats in two classes – Business and Economy. A new Business Class seat, especially designed for regional and medium-haul flights, as well as other cabin product features, will be unveiled when the aircraft is delivered in January.

The Business Class cabin will consist of 30 seats, in a 2-2-2 configuration (distinct from the existing B777 on these routes, which is in a 2-3-2 layout). Economy will feature 255 seats, in a 2-4-2 configuration. All seats will feature the new KrisWorld, Singapore Airlines award-winning inflight entertainment system.

The deployment of the A330-300 is shown below:

http://www.singaporeair.com/mediacen...762!1398209029

[NickN]

What is the reason for them removing the 777 off those routes?

[Montague S]

http://www.singaporeair.com/saa/Util...tName=A330-300

here is the seatmap for the new a/c.

[Ash W]

Originally Posted by NickN

What is the reason for them removing the 777 off those routes?

Maybe because the new A330's are being configured for regional use, so better to send 777's in a long haul config to places where that config is used to it's full potential.

[Montague S]

more likely age, some of those 777 are pushing a dozen years old.

[D Chan]

Took SQ a while to get the A330. All these years I reckon they couldve done well with an A330 fleet - just look at Cathay, Northwest etc. - the A330 is a true workhorse. Finally they can put them to good use!

[James Smith]

The issue that hasn't been raised as yet is that SQ will actually be reducing seats by 38 per flight with the conversion from 772 to A333 operations. The 772 has 30 + 293 seats. Once this is complete both Brisbane and Perth will have 1444 less return seats per week. Adelaide will loose 532 seats per week with their daily flights. The travel industry will not like this which will only add to the bleak forecasts for inbound tourists to Australia.

Will there be any increase in flights to limit or offset the reduction? The future schedules have not had the aircraft change updated as yet to show the aircraft change.

[NickN]

That was the point of my question actually, the drop in seats between the 777 and the A330.

Also, don't the regionally configured A330's have less comfortable seating than the 777 configured for long haul?