Singapore Airlines to resume non-stop US services with A350-900ULR: a strategic imperative

There is no long haul market more popular with Northeast Asia's airlines than North America. There are fewer competitors than to Europe, no intermediate options (Gulf carriers - for now) and a good balance of leisure and premium demand. Southeast Asian airlines, with unfavourable geography, have had to sit out. Philippine Airlines is an exception, but Malaysia Airlines has ended North American service while Thai Airways and Singapore Airlines have ended their non-stop experiments with A340-500s that proved too costly against twin-engined competitors and rising fuel prices.

Following SIA's exit, one-stop competitors from Northeast Asia and the Gulf added service to Singapore for its valuable premium traffic. This has impacted SIA's competitiveness, and it plans to return to non-stop US services in 2018 with the new A350-900ULR "Ultra-Long-Haul" variant for which it is the launch customer. The A359ULR will be more efficient than the A34-500s, but competitors' fleets have also become more efficient.