SQ PE - Now officially launched

[SQ228]

Current PE aircraft are

7WR - SWJ/K/L/M
38S - SKA/F/G/H/J

SWM and SKG aren't "current" as such. We assume they are undergoing PE installation. I don't believe SKG will be fitted with a PE cabin until possibly as late as early November.

[Bitterroot]

Thank you! Took a fair bit to figure out...

You've filled in for me what I didn't know- the "selected" part. It appears then, that they only expect to have four 77WR by 25 Oct- J/K/L/M.

9V-SWK has hatched: performing SQ 306 -16th now. As you say -- she's the third 77WR and the equivalent frame that covers the inaugural of PEY on 328/327 and 326/325 respectively from 22/24 September.

9V-SWM is the equivalent frame that allows 231/222 to revert to 77WR operation from 25 October.

Four 77WR is the right number for the beginning of the Northern Winter tt.

[SQfanatic]

9V-SWK has hatched: performing SQ 306 -16th now. As you say -- she's the third 77WR and the equivalent frame that covers the inaugural of PEY on 328/327 and 326/325 respectively from 22/24 September.

9V-SWM is the equivalent frame that allows 231/222 to revert to 77WR operation from 25 October.

Four 77WR is the right number for the beginning of the Northern Winter tt.

Wow, took a little over 2 weeks (Since 8/30 I recall). Besides, yup, SWB could also come into frame if it's confirmed to be refitted.

[sq_a380]

SWM and SKG aren't "current" as such. We assume they are undergoing PE installation. I don't believe SKG will be fitted with a PE cabin until possibly as late as early November.

Yes it would appear that these two birds are not out of the hangar yet. But I can confirm they are next to be refitted.

[SQfanatic]

I was really tempted to speculate on SWB, and perhaps, maybe, but maybe not... I've decided with some of these predictions that more than one piece of evidence is required because everytime I make a call while still in doubt, the plane invariably jets off a couple of hours later.

I think it's fair enough to say SWB and SWM are both undergoing refitting, hence why SWB is out of service too for over a week now.

Looks like they're taking 2 aircraft at a time to speed up the refitting process. It could also be because they need enough refitted frames to operate FRA and MUC/MAN daily. And at least according to the Wifi thread, those refitted must have already had Wifi. Those that don't are still flying as of today.

[Bitterroot]

9V-SWJ is performing SQ 328 - 18th to MUC and MAN -- an early introduction of the 77WR on this route.

[FSJZ]

Has 9V-SWB hatched? It just flew a test flight SQ8877 yesterday.

[SQfanatic]

It has hatched, but I don't know for sure if it has the PEY seats yet. In fact, I thought they said they were taking about 5 weeks to refit an entire 77W, since it involves taking out the old seats and configuring with the newest seats.

In fact, I'm starting to wonder if SWB is really refitted or not. SWM is still out of service and is definitely undergoing refit.

[Bitterroot]

Has 9V-SWB hatched? It just flew a test flight SQ8877 yesterday.

Not equipped with PEY; was in for routine maintenance. Just performed SQ 285/286 to AKL v v.

SWM will make the fourth frame required to protect the 77WR flights in effect from the beginning of the northern winter timetable.

[SQfanatic]

Not equipped with PEY; was in for routine maintenance. Just performed SQ 285/286 to AKL v v.

SWM will make the fourth frame required to protect the 77WR flights in effect from the beginning of the northern winter timetable.

Probably explains what happened to SWA/SWG several months ago through another post (Hence why it must still have the older seats).

[SQ228]

Not equipped with PEY; was in for routine maintenance. Just performed SQ 285/286 to AKL v v.

SWM will make the fourth frame required to protect the 77WR flights in effect from the beginning of the northern winter timetable.

This is as I suspected. I've been burnt too many times before making predictions just because a plane hasn't flown anywhere in the last week or so.

I can't see any evidence that SQ intends to ever work on two 77W refits at the same time. Somehow I think they would have already ramped up by now but instead they just keep extending the refit timeline. Even fitting a few rows of PEY into A380s is proving more challenging than they thought.

[SQfanatic]

This is as I suspected. I've been burnt too many times before making predictions just because a plane hasn't flown anywhere in the last week or so.

I can't see any evidence that SQ intends to ever work on two 77W refits at the same time. Somehow I think they would have already ramped up by now but instead they just keep extending the refit timeline. Even fitting a few rows of PEY into A380s is proving more challenging than they thought.

I guess you're right then. Was only wondering, because some 77Ws fly short/medium haul routes (say NRT, MEL, SYD, DEL, BOM). In some cases they could substitute that for a 77WN or a different aircraft (773, 772) if they ever intend to take 2 77W out of service to get refitted.

So far I don't believe based on the airlineroute.net's schedule, they're behind schedule on the 77W refits. Even if they were, there would probably be an announcment on their website and on news links.

As for the A380s, that might be true, but they have it easier as it's much less work than the 77Ws that are getting a complete cabin refresh.

[SQ228]

I guess you're right then. Was only wondering, because some 77Ws fly short/medium haul routes (say NRT, MEL, SYD, DEL, BOM). In some cases they could substitute that for a 77WN or a different aircraft (773, 772) if they ever intend to take 2 77W out of service to get refitted.

They did exactly that- SQ217/8 was operated with a 773 for most of May and that flight pair is equal to about 21 hours in terms of fleet provisioning. Net result: we still have only 3 out of 19 77W operating with a refitted interior.

Their first estimate was that the entire process would be done by early 2016 (although I vaguely recall an even earlier estimate around the time of the 2013 product launch). At the current rate they will finish at the very end of 2016.

I'm not overly surprised- it took them almost a full 12 months to refit 9x 772ERs and that didn't involve new IFE, the work done in Y wasn't as great, no PEY was installed and F wasn't a consideration. I can only imagine how long a full A380 refit would take...

[SQfanatic]

An A380 refit could take definitely lesser time than 77Ws (Maybe 2-3 weeks) since they're only removing some Y rows. After all, hopefully SWM-SWT will be done by latest February 2016 or so....

I did read somewhere SQ16 is going daily 77WR in late March so by that time they should have enough frames to do rotations with. They're only starting out with 2x weekly to ICN/SFO in January, then 5 weekly in February.

[FSJZ]

Read on Facebook that 9V-SNB will be fitted with PY before entering service. Is that true? Seems unlikely because SQ is only fitting PY on 19 77Ws (SWA-SWT), unless they wanted to accelerate their refit program.