Singapore Airlines opens a restaurant in an Airbus A380

Singapore Airlines will temporarily turn one of its grounded Airbus A380s into a restaurant to sate both the physical and emotional appetites of would-be travellers.

As part of the Discover Your Singapore Airlines program, diners will be able to book a seat and a meal on the superjumbo while it remains parked at Changi Airport.

The airline has not specified how much each session on this unique pop-up restaurant will cost – tickets for the events, to be held across the weekend of October 24-25, will go on sale at the airline's online KrisShop website on October 12 – but it says customers will be able to choose their cabin class.

The menu will include some of the airline's signature international dishes, such as Lobster Thermidor, along with a selection of favourites from the local Peranakan menu designed by acclaimed Singaporean chef Shermay Lee. There'll also be two complimentary alcoholic drinks and a free flow of other beverages.

Limited slots for an exclusive pre-lunch tour of the A380 will also be available, while all diners will receive KrisShop discounts along with "a limited edition goodie bag and additional gifts if they turn up in traditional heritage wear."

Inflight dining at home

But you won't have to trek out to Changi to sample some of Singapore Airlines' fine dining: from October 5, the airline will come to you.

Enjoy Singapore Airlines' first and business class meals and wine in your own dining room.

A "cabin crew concierge service" will let you choose from ten destination-themed menus featuring the carrier's first class and business class dishes, which will arrive at your door accompanied by wine or champagne from the SQ cellar.

Singapore Airlines' New Delhi dine-at-home menu.

Some packages also include the airline's Wedgwood dining ware, Lalique amenity kits and first class, the airline says; the dining experiences can be paid for in cash or using KrisFlyer miles.

Meanwhile, across the last two weekends in November, the airline will run behind-the-scenes tour of its training facilities and offer sessions in a flight simulator, wine tasting, attending a cabin crew "grooming workshop" and also buy some popular inflight meals.

Get that 'Singapore Girl' look at a grooming workshop.

No 'flights to nowhere'

However, Singapore Airlines has scrapped plans to run a series of scenic 'flights to nowhere' which would take in the airborne sights around South-East Asia but depart from and land back at Changi Airport.

The flights – which could have been sold as packages including staycations at the city’s hotels, shopping vouchers and limousine ferry rides – met with opposition from environmental groups, citing the high yet entirely avoidable cost of emissions generated by the sightseeing junket.

The airline said its developed the Discover Your Singapore Airlines experiences as "the result of a market study and a comprehensive review, which also considered factors such as the attractiveness of the initiatives to SIA’s customers and members of the public, the environmental implications, and their financial viability."

"An idea for a one-off short tour flight, or a 'flight to nowhere', was also initially considered but not pursued after the review."

Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong said the activities it has settled upon "offer something for everyone – from frequent flyers who miss our world-class in-cabin products and service, to couples and families who want an exclusive dining experience."

Also read: Here are Singapore Airlines' original Airbus A380 first class concepts

David Flynn

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.