Singapore Airlines Part 2: long haul expansion to resume after premium economy retrofits complete

Singapore Airlines (SIA) is planning to resume modest capacity expansion after reducing capacity for four consecutive years. The resumption of growth at the parent airline, albeit at a very modest level, comes following the completion of premium economy retrofits which drove capacity reductions over the past two years.

Most of the additional capacity in 2017 will be allocated regionally within Asia Pacific, including Australia. However, long haul expansion should resume in 2018, driven by an up to 20% increase in US capacity as SIA relaunches nonstop flights to New York and Los Angeles.

The new US flights will result in another spike of capacity in premium economy, which SIA introduced just under two years ago and now accounts for approximately 4% of the airline's total seat capacity. Premium economy should account for 5% to 6% of total seat capacity by the end of 2018 and a nearly 20% share in its US capacity, since the A350-900ULR that SIA will operate on the new nonstop flights will be configured only with premium economy and business class.