Singapore Airlines latest cabin products on the new B777-300ER (77WN) - 2013

[FN-GM]

BNE you typically only have one choice a330 and maybe sometimes 772 SQ/SR refitted series. For SYD send MEL you get options for 380s and 77W while some of it maybe be older products but in J when you are paying the same price and similar traveling times BNE has poorer value. (Not only for SQ, QF also deploys the older products for BNE-SIN)

I get that, I have flown the route many times. But I would much rather have the A330 than the 772 / 773 than SYD, MEL & PER get.

[SQ228]

I think two of the fleet types used on regional/mid-haul planes pit one cabin against another. The A330 is so much better for Y passengers than the old 772ER refits, yet the refit delivered a better J product, albeit with older IFE, although I realise there are differing views. 772 refit SQ/SR series and the 773 really have no winners, and the remaining three purple interiors are the bottom of the barrel.

What we can all agree is needed is for the 77W refit program to get back on track thus also allowing their old interiors to be handed down to the 772s and 773s they plan to keep a few more years than the others. PEY has really done very little other than to complicate this whole process.

[alian]

Additionally or we could wait for the regional a350s b787-10 to roll in but that's gonna take time. The 777Ws being 8-9 yrs do need a mid life revamp but until more a350s coming to fill in I think the refits will take time.

Let just sit back and see how how it unfolds

[SQfanatic]

I think that's why they're only now starting with SWA. Not just because of the SWB incident which also means the whole plane is getting fixed and a new cabin is coming into place. It's also because SWA is turning 10 by October and they're getting some of the oldest 77Ws to be refitted with the 2013 cabin products and with Wifi.

It's been 7 weeks but it's only a matter of time SWB performs a test flight as SQ8877. We will know for sure if SWA has been off the ground enough to warrant a refit only if it then performs test flight 8877.

Speaking of Wifi how long does a Wifi refit take? And anyone know the status of the Wifi refits?

[FN-GM]

I think two of the fleet types used on regional/mid-haul planes pit one cabin against another. The A330 is so much better for Y passengers than the old 772ER refits, yet the refit delivered a better J product, albeit with older IFE, although I realise there are differing views.

I fly J most of the time and I would still prefer the A330 than a refit 772. Yes the actual seat itself is better in the refits but the poor IFE and lack of power ports ruins it for me. I avoid the 772's as much as possible, only flown them once since 2009.

[alian]

I fly J most of the time and I would still prefer the A330 than a refit 772. Yes the actual seat itself is better in the refits but the poor IFE and lack of power ports ruins it for me. I avoid the 772's as much as possible, only flown them once since 2009.

Well it does depend on your purpose. For me I try to get work done and sleep so the refit 772 seems a better fit. Can't really space out in the A330 but you are right on the power port but I just plug in my laptop and USB charge my devices. For longer flights the 772 does make a diff over the A330.

[SQfanatic]

Well it does depend on your purpose. For me I try to get work done and sleep so the refit 772 seems a better fit. Can't really space out in the A330 but you are right on the power port but I just plug in my laptop and USB charge my devices. For longer flights the 772 does make a diff over the A330.

Let's hope the refit 772 get better treatment like the 773's maybe after more seats from the older 77W are transferred over. Definitely one more 77W is getting the old seats out and one of the older 777s will get the hand me down (SWB to another 777). SWA, we will find out if it is out longer than the end of the month to warrant a refit.

[alian]

That's assuming SWB is going for a 777WN/R refit and also SWA. It seems logical and practical but who knows ? Will just have to wait

[SQ228]

Let's hope the refit 772 get better treatment like the 773's maybe after more seats from the older 77W are transferred over.

The 772s we are discussing are the SV-series ER variant. They received brand new J seats as part of the refit of these planes around 4 years ago to replace the aging Spacebed product. They won't be pulling out those seats to replace them with ex-77W seats that are 6 years older just to provide USB charging ports.

[FN-GM]

The 772s we are discussing are the SV-series ER variant. They received brand new J seats as part of the refit of these planes around 4 years ago to replace the aging Spacebed product. They won't be pulling out those seats to replace them with ex-77W seats that are 6 years older just to provide USB charging ports.

They have updated 2 x 773's with 2006 Y seats and 2006 IFE. He is hoping that will happen to the 772's.

[SQ228]

They have updated 2 x 773's with 2006 Y seats and 2006 IFE. He is hoping that will happen to the 772's.

Yes, but it would only be for Y seats if any upgrade did take place. The present discussion we were having was specifically on the J product. It does actually raise the question of how easily the refitted J seats in the SV-series could communicate with an ex-77W IFE server. On the 773, the J product is regional and not quite as "built in" as with 772ERs. The present cabling would need to be compatible otherwise it becomes a much bigger job.

[FN-GM]

Yes, but it would only be for Y seats if any upgrade did take place. The present discussion we were having was specifically on the J product. It does actually raise the question of how easily the refitted J seats in the SV-series could communicate with an ex-77W IFE server. On the 773, the J product is regional and not quite as "built in" as with 772ERs. The present cabling would need to be compatible otherwise it becomes a much bigger job.

I am aware what we are taking about. Yes the actual seats being upgraded would only be Y yes. But the IFE will be a million times better in J on the 772 if they installed it with the 2006 from the 77W. So it would be an upgrade to the J product.

I have been told both systems use Ethernet cabling for the IFE. However im not 100% sure.

[dfs24]

Yea. It's all via Ethernet.

Mainly 4 components
1. Media Server: couple of TB worth of content
2. Area distribution box: takes care of a section
3. Seat electronic box (the box everyone complains about eating up your legroom): Routes the bit streams to the right seats
4. Your screen: processes bit streams to form your video

No. 3 and 4 usually comes together with the seat, so 3 & 4 are 100% replaced.

Seems reasonable to assume old IFE is on T100 Ethernet Copper cables. Not sure if the 2006 IFE is on the same or on Fibre Optic backbone. If they need to change the cables, then they might as well change the ADB.

I'd expect the server to be replaced if they are going to offer 2006 IFE quality due to space and speed performance requirements.

So if the seat boxes and screens in J are compatible, and they don't change it, we might see 2006 IFE content with old IFE quality in J. Otherwise I'd imagine they will replace it.

[FN-GM]

Yea. It's all via Ethernet.

Mainly 4 components
1. Media Server: couple of TB worth of content
2. Area distribution box: takes care of a section
3. Seat electronic box (the box everyone complains about eating up your legroom): Routes the bit streams to the right seats
4. Your screen: processes bit streams to form your video

No. 3 and 4 usually comes together with the seat, so 3 & 4 are 100% replaced.

Seems reasonable to assume old IFE is on T100 Ethernet Copper cables. Not sure if the 2006 IFE is on the same or on Fibre Optic backbone. If they need to change the cables, then they might as well change the ADB.

I'd expect the server to be replaced if they are going to offer 2006 IFE quality due to space and speed performance requirements.

So if the seat boxes and screens in J are compatible, and they don't change it, we might see 2006 IFE content with old IFE quality in J. Otherwise I'd imagine they will replace it.

I doubt it will be fiber optic for the short distance. Copper Ethernet can go upto 100m, the 777-300ER is under 80m long. You don't need fiber for 10Gb speeds. The only reason I could see they would use fiber is to save weight, but im not sure it would be worth it.

[alian]

I doubt it will be fiber optic for the short distance. Copper Ethernet can go upto 100m, the 777-300ER is under 80m long. You don't need fiber for 10Gb speeds. The only reason I could see they would use fiber is to save weight, but im not sure it would be worth it.

Fiber would be needed on newer planes though if streaming HD content to 300+ seats. While 100m may seem a lot individually taking into account a plane with near 300 or more seats that's a lot of data transfer. Not sure of the specs of the 2006y seats but on my last a330 in Y the resolution was not very high but still with 255 y and 30 j that potentially requires higher throughput network switch into the servers to handle the load. Fiber would be a reasonable assumption