Demand for SIA's premium seats is holding up but could take a hit in the future given headwinds in the global economy. "With the kind of outlook we're seeing in the world economy, we do expect that will affect business demand at some point. That's something we'll watch for," said SIA CE Goh Choon Phong Thursday. "At this point in time, we are not really seeing weaker demand for Business Class," he said. Premium traffic is important for SIA as the airline typically gets a substantial proportion of revenue from the front end of the cabin. Meanwhile, the airline plans to tweak the configuration of 5 of its incoming A380s next year by reducing the number of suites to better match demand, Goh said. Its existing double-decker jets have 12 suites each. <br/>
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Air India plans to launch 3X-weekly Boeing 787-8 Delhi-Vienna services, from April 6, replacing Austrian Airlines’ 5X-weekly service to the Indian capital. Austrian Airlines will operate its last service to Delhi April 3. Instead, Austrian starts a new 5X-weekly Boeing 777-200ER Vienna-Shanghai Pudong service April 6, which become daily from May 1. This route will open without the need for additional widebody aircraft. To be able to operate the new route to China, Austrian had to axe the Delhi route to have widebody capacity available. The carrier stopped Vienna-Dubai services Sept 13, 2015, due to overcapacity. Separately, an Austrian Airlines spokesperson said it will wet lease several narrowbody aircraft for the summer 2016 season to avoid capacity shortage in peak times. <br/>