USA TODAY International Edition
Singapore Airlines makes Seattle its next big move
Singapore Airlines will begin flying from Seattle, part of a big U.S. expansion by the carrier known for its highend service.
The Seattle flights will start in September 2019, giving Singapore its first new market in the U.S. since 2008, when it added service from Houston.
Seattle stood out “because we know this economy has been growing very rapidly,” Sek Eng Lee, Singapore Airlines’ regional vice president-Americas, told USA TODAY, citing names such as Amazon, Microsoft and Boeing.
“These big companies are based there, and we see that there is a growing market,” Lee said, adding that “there also is growing demand from the leisure market, as well.”
The Seattle flight announcement comes amid a broader high-profile U.S. expansion for Singapore Airlines.
It was just three weeks ago that Singapore Airlines relaunched nonstop service between Newark, New Jersey, and Singapore, a 9,535-mile flight with a scheduled flying time of 18 hours, 30 minutes. With that, Singapore reclaimed the title for having the world’s longest regularly scheduled flight. The carrier generated headlines around the world as it bumped out the previous record-holder, Qatar Airways and its 9,032mile flight between Doha, Qatar, and Auckland, New Zealand.
Friday, Singapore Airlines will restart another U.S. route that also will be among the longest on the planet. The airline’s Los Angeles-Singapore flights will cover 8,770 miles, ranking as the fifth-longest in the world as measured by distance. Flight time for the Singapore-bound leg is scheduled for 17 hours, 50 minutes.
Singapore Airlines is on the move in Northern California, too. It already is expanding its recently-launched San Francisco-Singapore service, going to 10 flights a week from the current seven.
Once Singapore’s four-times-a-week Seattle service begins Sept. 3, the airline will have a total of 57 flights a week from the U.S., according to Lee. The growth represents a 43 percent increase in flight frequency compared with the carrier’s September 2018 schedule.
Singapore is perhaps best known around the world for its Airbus A380 super jumbo jets that feature ultraluxurious suites. But a different plane has been the key for Singapore’s recent growth spurt in the U.S.
That’s the Airbus A350, an “ultra long-range” variant of the jet that was designed at the request of Singapore Airlines.
The twin-engine A350 already was capable of flying long intercontinental flights. But the “ULR” version has an even greater range. Airbus says the ULR is capable of flying about 11,100 statute miles while carrying a normal load of passengers and cargo. The typical range of a standard A350-900 is about 9,300 statute miles, according to specifications from Airbus.
Singapore Airlines, which took delivery of its first A350 in 2016, has a total of 60 A350-900s on order and another seven of the ULR variant. Four of the A350-900ULRs and 21 of the A350900s have already been delivered to the carrier.
For Singapore, the ULR has allowed the resumption of nonstops from Singapore to Newark and Los Angeles – routes the carrier discontinued in 2013 as it phased out its gas-guzzling, fourengine Airbus A340s amid rising fuel prices.
For now, Lee declined to say if Singapore might expand its roster of U.S. destinations beyond Seattle.