Singapore Airlines' first Airbus A350 routes

Give them a chance!

Considering that AMS has a single daily flight and for the most part on crappy old 777s (plus a couple of 77Ws a week more recently), I think they deserve to be first to get the new aircraft.

It is likely that any flights currently operated by the A333s (as they come off of their 6 year leases) and older 777s will be the flights that they'll replace first.

And the B777-300ER from AMS should run on SQ211 and SQ 212. This is a premium service as you can touch down Singapore by lunch time, good connection to rest of Asia.

Yet there's no Premium Economy and a decent Business Class which is disappointing.

Exactly!

But how about Sydney? Don't forget we still have 1x daily service operated by B777-200ER... :(

Delta has just purchased 11 77Es from SIA (ex SQ and Scoot) so they will likely replace the 77Es taken from SQ alongside the A333s as their leases expire.

yes

Singapore Airlines has not announced further A350 destinations beyond Amsterdam, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, Roger.

Chris, they haven't made further destinations announcements as yet. However, with 63 A350 on order, you can bet that at some point, they will be flying to secondary Aussie cities at some point.

Indeed SQ hasn't announced further destinations for the A350 as of yet, although we'd not assume this particular aircraft would fly on any particular route until Singapore Airlines makes that known – remembering that SQ has quite a diverse fleet.

you forget that MEL also gets those older 77Es next year on one of the daily flights

Off the topic a little can anyone tell me which service out of Melbourne is the latest 777-300ER.I quite like the schedules of SQ227 AND SQ228 ever since Adelaide's SQ279/SQ278 got switched to mid mornings OUT OF Australia and the god awful 11pm at night ex SIN TO ADL which are great if connecting onto the rest of Asia but lousy if your end destination is Singapore.

SQ  228  departing    at    16.40   gets   to   Changi  at   21.30 is   the latest   777-ER   with  the   all   new   business   class   and  First  seats. Sometime   next  year  (I  think   from   May  2016  SQ   238-  departing  MEL  around   11  Am  and  arriving  in   Singapore    around    16  30 will   also  be   switched   to   a 777  300  ER   (  currently  they    fly the   old   version  of   777-300) Not    sure   if   that   will  be    the   latest   777  300  ER  , but   I   am   hoping    so,  since   the   current  777   300   is    quite   an  old   and  dated    aircraft (  angled    business    class  seats)

well that J class in the regular -300s is actually their current gen regional business (same as on A333s and some 77Es).  Also I've got 4 flights with them next year, all on 77Ws.  One of them has PE so that means it has new economy also.  My flight ex MEL is SQ238 so I will see if that is new one or not.  It's not always guaranteed that they use the new cabin because the seat layout in the new 3-class is almost identical to older 77W config.

It will be the same time flight as what they already have.

Yes I imagine it will replace the 77W on SQ324/323, but I'm wondering if there has been any word on when they will actually start flying or when the schedules will be updated? I want to change my flight home from Europe next year to leave AMS instead of BCN but I won't until I know for sure that I'll be on an A350.

oh right well that might be a while...i decided to leave mine out of LHR since it will be on 77W with new economy cabin

Also waiting to hear on an actual start date and equipment change loaded into GDS as I have a flight towards the end of April. They should have atleast 2 by mid April (9V-SMB scheduled for mid April delivery). Depends if Airbus is able to ramp up production as theyre still only getting 1-2 out per month.

SQ needed an aircraft that could fly to NY and LA now, rather than waiting 5-6 years and letting the competition grab a large slice of the market share. But who knows, if these routes are successful and SQ gets good loads and demand for these routes they might order the larger 777-8. 

The 787 is not overrated it is actually it has a better aircarft technology. It is not Boeing fault airliners decided to put 9 seats instead of 8 in a row. Boeing meant for extra comfort in economy and no suprise the first oprator ANA did just that. Sad that for an extra about 20-22 seats premium full service airlines put 737 width seats. Much like the a380 - not Airbus fault Emirates and other to follow plan to put 11 seats in a row.  

Just my opinion Aaron for what it's worth. After having flown on the 787 a number of times now, I think it's not as quite as the A380, which I hope the A350 compares too. True it does not help that airlines are going with 9 abreast seating.

AARON how is it a better aircraft when airlines are cramping it with 3-3-3 economy seating, being somewhat louder than the A350 according to some reports and being grounded due to battery fires?

I've flown on the B787 and trust me, it's not that big a deal and not that different to other aircraft except for mood lighting, auto dimming windows and more breathable air. 

And I wish more folks who considered the 787 as overrated will also cease overrating the 350....

I   think   eventually   all  the    A  330s    and  B   777   200s    will  be  replaced    by   the  A  350 s    but  it   WILL   take  a   long   time   ,   so  guys    don't  ho;ld   your   breath. Their   priority  is   to    place   the   350  on   long  haul   Europe    and  US   routes.

<<all the A 330s and B 777 200s will  be replaced by the A 350s...>>

Actually, not in the case of SQ.  Don't forget they hold a firm order for 78J(i.e. 787-10) x30 in which none is planned for Scoot.  On the other hand, there're 333(i.e. 330-300) x29 in SQ fleet today.  Among all the new types ordered by SQ over the past 10yrs, 78J has the closest payload/range performance to the 333.

I strongly suspect almost all 333s @ SQ will eventually be replaced directly by the 78J.

The intention was that the second batch of  2-class A359s will replace the A333s.  The A333s are all on 6-year leases as a stop-gap measure until the A359s arrive.  This was due to the long delays of the A350 program which was supposed to be delivered to SQ I think in 2010 originally.  Also I believe they are being delivered before the 78Js.

Having said that, the 2-class A350s will probably replace A333s 1 for 1 as their leases expire.  Any additional aircraft recieved prior to lease expiration of A333s will be instead used to replace 772s and eventually 773s