Singapore Airlines' SilkAir gets lie-flat business class

Singapore Airlines' SilkAir gets lie-flat business class

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by David Flynn | February 11, 2019

Singapore Airlines' regional arm SilkAir will upgrade its Boeing 737 business class to lie-flat seats next year using Thompson Aero's popular Vantage design.

The new business class seats will debut on SilkAir's growing Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet from May 2020 – the airline has five MAX 8s already in the air, with 32 more to follow – and will also be retrofitted to its Boeing 737-800 jets, with the older Airbus A320 aircraft being retired.

A spokesman for Singapore Airlines confirmed the choice of the Vantage, which has gained single-aisle cred via US carrier JetBlue’s Mint premium cabin and FlyDubai (shown below)...

... and was most recently selected by Aer Lingus for its forthcoming Airbus A321LR jets.

Boeing is also spruiking a customised version of the Vantage business class seating in promotional material for its 737 MAX jets.

Singapore Airlines says the Boeing 737 seats will have many similarities to its latest regional business class seating found on its Boeing 787-10s and selected Airbus A350s, including a forward-facing design – and while the Vantage lacks direct aisle access for every passenger, it does offer a handful of 'throne' seats for solo flyers.

SilkAir’s A$100 million upgrade will also see seatback video screens fitted in both business class and economy class.

The move is being touted as delivering 'a consistent premium experience across both international and regional Singapore Airlines flights', and will come as Singapore Airlines takes over SilkAir to become a unified premium airline brand across Asia and around the world.

SilkAir's current flagship business class product is the wide recliner of its new Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet.

SilkAir's latest Boeing 737 MAX 8 business class

AusBT review: Review: SilkAir Boeing 737 MAX business class

singapore airlines business class SilkAir

David Flynn

David Flynn

david@ausbt.com.au / @djsflynn

David Flynn is the editor of Australian Business Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
 

8 comments


  • L Mck

    Lmc

    11 Feb, 2019 02:06 pm

    Huge upgrade on what’s already a comfortable product on short haul flights.
    This will be very welcoming on Silkairs longer 5-6 hour sectors!
    No member give thanks

  • Vik Jay

    MarkivJ

    11 Feb, 2019 02:38 pm

    Thank God! Now if only Cathay dragon can follow suit!
    No member give thanks

  • harko

    harko

    11 Feb, 2019 02:51 pm

    Or at least if Cathay had flat beds on all flights and not their ridiculous recliner regional "business" class seats on many red-eye flights and long flights of up to 5 hours such as Jakarta, Bali, Sapporo, and extremely expensive routes such as Singapore, Tokyo, Beijing etc.
    No member give thanks

  • Deco.001

    Deco.001

    11 Feb, 2019 05:01 pm

    The vantage product is already on flydubai 737 Max
    No member give thanks

  • Saab34

    Saab34

    11 Feb, 2019 08:32 pm

    Virgin I hope you are taking note!
    No member give thanks

  • downdata

    downdata

    11 Feb, 2019 08:39 pm

    The seats do look somewhat narrow though...
    No member give thanks

  • xtfer

    xtfer

    12 Feb, 2019 01:20 pm

    They aren't as narrow as they look. The high table sides give that appearance, but in practice they are fine. Comfortable too.
    No member give thanks

  • Traveller14

    Traveller14

    14 Feb, 2019 03:09 pm

    SilkAir (MI) won't however be the first international airline to fly lie flat business class seats to and from Oz in a narrowbody aircraft.

    That honour goes to fast expanding Philippine Airlines (PR) that has its new A321neos operating with 12 B/E Diamond seats in J. These were originally on MNL to BNE, but now appear on MNL - SYD (though not during some peak times such as Christmas/January when latter is usually a refurbished A333), and lately MEL on one of the two distinct schedules.
    No member give thanks

Guest

20 Feb, 2019 12:44 pm

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