Singapore Airlines have announced they will introduce new Airbus A330 aircraft on routes between Singapore and Australia along with Singapore and Japan, the full press release can be read below:
Singapore Airlines
will introduce its new Airbus A330-300 regional aircraft on routes to
Australian and Japanese cities, progressively from the end of March 2009.
The first of 19 new
A330-300s will be delivered to Singapore Airlines by Airbus in mid-January. The
aircraft will initially 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. To coincide with the 25th
anniversary of the commencement of Singapore Airlines flights between the two
cities, the craft’s 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, with conversion 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, designed especially
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 in-flight
entertainment system.
* Actual inaugural service will take place from Singapore
to Brisbane (SQ255) on 30 March 2009 – the date of the 25th anniversary of the commencement of
Singapore Airlines services betweenthe
two cities. The first flight from Brisbane is SQ236 on 30 March 2009.