Singapore Airlines to re-establish longest flight ever: EWR-SIN
Singapore Airlines will use Airbus A350s when it resumes non-stop service from the U.S. to Singapore
Recently, Emirates announced the world's longest commercial airline flight, Dubai to Panama City, Panama, set to begin in February, 2016. They, however, will only hold the title for two years per yesterday's announcement by Singapore Airlines that it would resume service in 2018 from Newark-Liberty International Airport to Singapore Changi International Airport.
“Singapore had yanked the routes [EWR-SIN and LAX-SIN] because of the fuel expense of the sole aircraft in its fleet that could make the trip, an Airbus A340-500.”
The airline formerly operated the route but cancelled service in 2013 along with flights from Los Angeles to Singapore citing fuel expense. The move left the airline with no direct flights from the United States to Singapore. This put the company at a competitive disadvantage to Cathay Pacific which offers non-stop flights from New York and Los Angeles to the region via Hong Kong.
The new routes will be operating by the forthcoming Airbus A350-900ULR (Ultralong range) aircraft. Bloomberg cites lower fuel costs now versus 2013 as well as the fact that the new airliner is being designed to be far more fuel efficient than the aircraft previously used on the routes.
Though I am not one of the business travelers clamoring for the return of these routes, I am excited by this news. I am in the early stages of accumulating reward miles in order to take a "bucket list" trip to Asia. One of in-flight experiences I hope to have on this trip is first class on Singapore Airlines. While I still think I might prefer to do that aboard an Airbus A380, based on the videos of Qatar Airways' first commercial flight of the A350 earlier this year, the A350 looks to be a gorgeous aircraft on which I would love to fly. I look forward to seeing reviews of the first and business class service on future Singapore A350s before the time comes to begin planning my trip.
Qatar Airways inaugural A350 flight from Doha to Frankfurt