Singapore Airlines A350s

A350ULRs will start arriving in the Singapore Airlines fleet in August 2018, for more non-stop flights to North America.

The arrival of the 21st A350 does represent a shift change though. A gap in deliveries is about to happen, and there will be no new A350 aircraft joining the Singapore Airlines fleet until August 2018. But ‘Aircraft 22’, and the six which follow, will be groundbreaking for a different reason.

These will be the first A350ULR (ultra-long-range variant) aircraft to enter commercial service

“As part of its philosophy of continuous innovation, Airbus has launched the Ultra-Long Range version of the A350-900. Designated as the A350-900ULR, the jetliner offers increased fuel-carrying capacity of up to 165,000 litres and a higher 280-tonne maximum takeoff weight, enabling service on non-stop flights of up to 19 hours.

“Benefitting from the A350 XWB’s unique flexibility, the extended range capability does not involve installation of additional fuel tanks (just an adaptation of the fuel system within the existing fuel tank), and the A350-900ULR can be reconfigured to the standard long-haul specifications if required by the operator.” – Airbus

The A350ULR will be in a two-class configuration, yet to be formally announced but rumoured to be 68 in business class and 94 in premium economy.

There’s no formal announcement yet about which routes the A350ULR will be deployed on first, but we’ve heard Los Angeles will be launched in September 2018. That’ll likely be followed by New York, and there are rumours of a fourth non-stop destination in North America, which would probably not be served until 2019.

Once the 7 A350ULR aircraft are delivered, the next batch of A350 deliveries for Singapore Airlines in 2019 are destined to receive the ‘regional’ configuration, sporting the new regional flat-bed business class product which will debut from 3rd April on the Boeing 787-10 (8 of those aircraft will be delivered this year, starting next month, from a total order of 49).