SIA is facing no problem selling business-class tickets on its ultra-long non-stop flights to the US but is having to price premium economy seats very attractively, a senior executive said Wednesday. The carrier last month resumed after five years the world's longest commercial flight, an almost 19-hour non-stop journey from Singapore to New York. The airline ordered seven new ultra-long-range twin-engine Airbus SE A350-900ULRs fitted with just 67 business class and 94 premium economy seats for those flights and for non-stop services to Los Angeles and San Francisco. These flights have no economy class seats. It represents a major expansion in the US market for Singapore Airlines and a test of whether the carrier can charge the 20% price premium that travel industry data shows is typical for ultra-long non-stop services due to their popularity with time-sensitive business travellers. SIA Executive VP Commercial Mak Swee Wah said there was existing demand for business class which he expected would continue to pick up. For premium economy, however, he said some markets were not "entirely familiar" with the product, which offers more leg room and other amenities than economy class. "I think we need to continue to stimulate and encourage the market to consider this product, initially with very attractive pricing, but eventually I think people will see that even at prices which we offer it is a good product to purchase because it is a very long flight," he said.<br/>
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SIA said the integration of its regional arm SilkAir into the mainline carrier is progressing on track. SIA Group CE Goh Choon Phong shared that three main tasks have been completed. SIA has set up a dedicated project management office to oversee the SilkAir integration. The office has since established 12 workstreams to drive integration activities, including product and service definition, operational alignment, staff integration, corporate as well as legal and regulatory requirements. SilkAir's commercial departments have also been integrated with that of the mainline carrier. Goh added that SIA has also finalised product decisions for the Boeing 737 fleet, including seat, in-flight entertainment and in-flight connectivity suppliers. He declined to provide more details, except to say that the new products will be available from 2020, when the merger is expected to be completed. The Star Alliance carrier announced the merger in May this year and said that the the cabin overhaul programme will cost more than S$100m (US$74m). This involved upgrading SilkAir's cabins with new lie-flat seats in business class, and the installation of seat-back IFE systems in both business class and economy class.<br/>
United will operate its new Boeing 787-10 on six routes to Europe next summer, making good on comments that it would fly the aircraft across the Atlantic from its New York City-area base. The Star Alliance carrier will operate the longest variant of the 787 family once daily from Newark to Frankfurt and Tel Aviv from 30 March 2019, to Barcelona and Paris Charles de Gaulle from 29 April 2019, and to Brussels and Dublin from 22 May 2019, it says. “United is proud to offer more seats between New York and Europe than any other carrier and our Boeing 787-10 aircraft based in New York/Newark will enable us to connect even more New York City customers to Europe and beyond,” said Patrick Quayle, VP of international network at United. The shift to the 787-10, which seats 318 passengers in three classes, will add capacity on most of the transatlantic routes. It replaces a 240-seat Boeing 767-400ER on flights to Frankfurt and Paris, and an up to 292-seat Boeing 777-200 on flights to Barcelona, Brussels and Dublin. Only the Newark-Tel Aviv route will see a capacity reduction, as the flight shifts from a 366-seat 777-300ER to the 787. However, United begins new service to Tel Aviv from Washington Dulles in May, complementing the Newark route.<br/>