A bigger A350-900 aircraft to be deployed between Singapore and Bengaluru from May will allow Singapore Airlines to enhance its capacity by 14%, said David Lim, the airline’s India MD.
The airline is likely to replicate this move in Chennai next year when it marks 50 years of its operation at its first-ever station in India.
The airline has announced that it would be replacing its Boeing B777 aircraft with Airbus A350 for medium haul between Singapore and Bengaluru from May 18. This plane would be used for three flights in a week. Subsequently, when the airline inducts more aircraft of this variant, these would be used to serve 10 flights per week to Bengaluru. “Boeing 777 has a capacity of 266 seats and Airbus 350 has 303 seats, which means 14% additional capacity. But, currently we have only seven times weekly B777 service, which will be increased to 10 times weekly service with the A350s,” the MD said in a telephonic interview.
“A bigger aircraft allows us more capacity and the evening slots are quite difficult to come by and we want to make the best of our slots,” he added.
The airline is also gearing up to mark its 50th anniversary of serving Chennai, its first destination in the country, and plans to replace its Airbus A330 with either an A350 or Boeing 787. The airline had started operations to Chennai on June 1, 1970.
“We will bring our latest aircraft to Chennai and expand our capacity out of Chennai. We will withdraw our low-cost subsidiary Scoot Air from Chennai and transfer its capacity to Singapore Airlines and Silk Air,” Mr. Lim said.
The airline placed an order for 976 A350s in 2016 and started inducting the medium haul version of this plane last year in December. So far these have been deployed on routes to Brisbane and Adelaide and will be introduced on routes to India this summer.
The airline has brought some of its biggest aircraft to the country in the past, too. In 2014, it brought Airbus A380 to Mumbai and Delhi and in 2017 it introduced its Airbus A350 long haul on its Mumbai route. Last year, the airline also flew its Boeing 787-10 via Delhi on its longest flight from Singapore to New York
The airline will also be extending its code-share with Vistara from 20 cities to 25. Singapore Airlines, along with its low-cost arm Scoot Air, flies to a total of 14 cities in the country.
