Singapore Airlines orders more Airbus A380s and A350s
Singapore Airlines plans to order five more A380s and another 20 A350s for additional capacity growth and fleet renewal.
The firm order commitments are valued at US$7.5 billion based on Airbus’ published list prices. Deliveries are due to begin in 2017.
SIA currently operates 19 A380-800 superjumbos and already had firm orders in place for 20 A350s, for delivery starting in 2015. As with the earlier A350 order, the A350-900 variant has been selected for the 20 additional aircraft.
SIA’s A380s serve 10 destinations - Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, New York, Paris, Sydney, Tokyo and Zurich, and they have carried more than nine million passengers since entering service in 2007. The A350s are intended for use on medium- and long-haul routes.
As part of the deal, Airbus has agreed to acquire SIA’s five A340-500s, which will be removed from service in the fourth quarter of next year 2013, in line with the Airline’s policy to maintain a young fleet. This will result in the cessation of non-stop flights between Singapore and Los Angeles and between Singapore and Newark, in the absence of replacement aircraft in the SIA fleet with sufficient range and operating economics.
With the new commitments, SIA will have firm purchase or lease orders in place with Airbus and Boeing for 68 new widebody aircraft, including 15 additional A330-300s and eight additional B777-300ERs ordered last year. This excludes 20 B787s on firm order that will be transferred to low-cost subsidiary Scoot to support its growth plans, as well as regional arm SilkAir’s recent order commitments for at least 54 B737 aircraft.