Singapore Air to Relaunch US Nonstops

Singapore Airlines will resume non-stop flights to the United States in 2018 after becoming the launch customer for a new ultra-long distance variant of the Airbus A350, the carrier said in a statement.

The airline has 63 A350-900s on firm order, the first of which is due for delivery in January.

Singapore Airlines has finalized an aircraft deal with Airbus that will enable it to operate the world’s longest direct flight between Singapore and New York covering 8700 nautical miles over 19 hours.

The world’s longest flight?

“Our customers have been asking us to re-start nonstop Singapore-US flights”, Singapore Air CEO Goh Choon Phong said in the statement.

Singapore Airlines operated the route from Singapore to New York until 2013, but stopped the service because of its inefficiency.

Airbus said it now has firm orders for 783 A350s from 41 customers.

Singapore offers no word yet as to the new planes’ seating configuration, sufficing it to say that “the aircraft will be fitted with all-new cabin products which are now under development”.

Nonstop flights between Singapore and additional points in the U.S. are also under consideration.

Once it has its “A350-900ULRs”, Singapore Air plans to fly from Singapore to both New York and Los Angeles.

If a further 419 kilometres range could be found the A350-900ULR could also connect Singapore and Rio de Janiero, or perhaps Sao Paulo, which might well become a highly desirable business route as Brazil grows it economy, and trade with Asia expands to levels not forecast early in this century.

Of the order, Singapore Airlines will also acquire the first seven of Airbus’ newly launched A350 long haul variant – the A350-900(ULR) – which are slated to begin delivering in 2018.

According to Airbus, the A350-900ULR will ‎include a modified fuel system to increase fuel carrying capacity, an increased maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) and aerodynamic improvements.

The current longest is a 17-hour flight from Dubai to Panama.

The daily, all-business-class flights from Singapore to Los Angeles and Newark ended as the routes were not profitable with four-engine planes, analysts said previously.