A350 Deliveries and Routes

[TheMightyAsian]

SQ8895 9VSMR DLYED ETA 1650

[SQKevin]

9V-SMR is currently over the Black Sea on her Delivery Flight. She is the 50th A359 delivery of 2017.

[9V-SML]

9V-SMR is currently over the Black Sea on her Delivery Flight. She is the 50th A359 delivery of 2017.

It seems like FR24 disagrees. Link to tweet: https://twitter.com/flightradar24/st...82917994160130

[SQKevin]

9V-SMR has landed at Changi, bringing the SQ A359 fleet to 18.

[TheMightyAsian]

[SQKevin]

With the delivery of SMR, there are now 3 SQ A359 in the Final Assembly Line.

9V-SMS (#19) is unpainted and two weeks into cabin fit. She should roll out onto the Flight Line and then painted by the end of November. Depending on how quickly Flight testing proceeds, she could be delivered at the end of December or early January.

9V-SMT (#20) is assembled and waiting for a slot in cabin fit or the Paint Hanger. She should only roll out onto the Flight Line in December and will be delivered most likely in February.

9V-SMU (#21) has just entered the first station in the Final Assembly Line. She will likely be delivered in March or April 2018.

9V-S_ _ (#22) is speculated to be the 1st A359 ULR. She is still some way from entering the FAL being msn 216.

The above production schedule should give some idea as to how soon new A359 routes will be introduced and when some of the B777-200 will likely be retired in the next 6 months.

[FSJZ]

If I remember correctly from their annual report, we are expecting 3 more A350s this financial year, ending 31 March 2018. So SMU will most likely be delivered in or before March.

[SQKevin]

If I remember correctly from their annual report, we are expecting 3 more A350s this financial year, ending 31 March 2018. So SMU will most likely be delivered in or before March.

Yes, I think March is possible. The most inconsistent time interval between the various FAL stations is between Roll out and First Flight. If SQ pushes for the delivery of SMU to be in or before March, this is the phase that can be accelerated.

[9V-JKL]

SQKevin, would you know if SMU is in the same cabin config as the current fleet or a new config?

[balajih67]

Any updates on a359 with regional configuration? Waiting for them to replace the A333 to india

[SQKevin]

SQKevin, would you know if SMU is in the same cabin config as the current fleet or a new config?

I am afraid I have no idea. To date, there has been no official announcement from SQ that there will be new configuration for their A359. In fact what was supposed to have been an announcement by their regional vice-president that there would be a regional configuration for #11-20 (https://www.ausbt.com.au/singapore-a...m-range-config) never happened. So it's anyone's guess whether a new configuration will appear for SMU though I doubt there will be one. Perhaps there will be a new configuration for the SQ A359 after we see the 7 A359 ULR roll off the production line.

[SQKevin]

TheMightyAsian, I believe this is the photo of 9V-SMR arriving at Changi, that you were trying to post.

[TheMightyAsian]

Thanks SQKevin

[SQfanatic]

With the delivery of SMR, there are now 3 SQ A359 in the Final Assembly Line.

9V-SMS (#19) is unpainted and two weeks into cabin fit. She should roll out onto the Flight Line and then painted by the end of November. Depending on how quickly Flight testing proceeds, she could be delivered at the end of December or early January.

9V-SMT (#20) is assembled and waiting for a slot in cabin fit or the Paint Hanger. She should only roll out onto the Flight Line in December and will be delivered most likely in February.

9V-SMU (#21) has just entered the first station in the Final Assembly Line. She will likely be delivered in March or April 2018.

9V-S_ _ (#22) is speculated to be the 1st A359 ULR. She is still some way from entering the FAL being msn 216.

The above production schedule should give some idea as to how soon new A359 routes will be introduced and when some of the B777-200 will likely be retired in the next 6 months.

Thanks again for the updates SQKevin. I also had the same question on SMU on the configuration. That would be the 21st A350 and I thought the first 20 A350s were configured for longhaul routes only.

I can't guess for sure on SMU but I know for a fact regional and ULR 350s may have a different series than SM* at least what it is indicating.

As far as the next preceding 350's, wow seems late. No delivery til January?

[SQ228]

With the delivery of SMR, there are now 3 SQ A359 in the Final Assembly Line.

9V-SMS (#19) is unpainted and two weeks into cabin fit. She should roll out onto the Flight Line and then painted by the end of November. Depending on how quickly Flight testing proceeds, she could be delivered at the end of December or early January.

9V-SMT (#20) is assembled and waiting for a slot in cabin fit or the Paint Hanger. She should only roll out onto the Flight Line in December and will be delivered most likely in February.

9V-SMU (#21) has just entered the first station in the Final Assembly Line. She will likely be delivered in March or April 2018.

This is interesting. BNE is meant to be 3x daily A359 by mid-January 2018. SMR is obviously intended for BNE and then SMS would arrive in time for the third BNE addition on 16JAN18, but they must have some slack in the scheduling that they plan to use for the second BNE flight from 16DEC.

When I look at the three flight pairs' timing, I can't see any advantageous situations to exploit, though. SQ265/6 would definitely slot in between other long haul flights, but that flight pair is the only one of the 4 that is not scheduled to go A359. The three flight pairs going A359 all need to be in the air between 0100 & 0500 which is peak hour for the A359.

The first pair SQ235/56 is set to go A359 on 16OCT (SMR) but they would be wanting SMS by 16DEC and SMT in early January, otherwise it will be another situation similar to SMQ arriving just a little after the FCO A359 introduction and we had a few flights here and there having to go 77W if anything went wrong.

(Obviously I'm not suggesting SMR-T will fly the route specifically, only referring to the capacity they add to the fleet.)