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9V-SMK is currently making her First Flight.
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It's difficult to speculate on where the next destination will be.
Some ideas for you all to work with:
1. At present, the only time they need all 10 A350s in the air to fulfil the schedule is literally for a handful of hours, late on a Sunday night/Monday morning.
2. Capacity exists during the daytime even with the present 10. Flights that depart and return within the window of 0730-2200 would soak up under-utilised capacity.
3. Weekends are the most problematic as many of the current A350 destinations are not daily and tend to have their gap days mid-week.
4. Most rumoured destinations, e.g. MXP/BCN, CPH etc. also fit the same pattern as above meaning fleet demand will grow ever stronger on weekends and constantly weaker around Tuesday/Wednesday.Comment
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The A350 and the A330 have a common type rating for flight crew. Do pilots float between the A350's and A330's? Or do they just stick to one of the two?Comment
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No F inventory past end of March for MXP/BCN suggests 350 deployment on that route. With the imminent delivery of 9V-SMK perhaps we see some other deployment before MXP/BCN wave the 77W goodbye.Originally posted by SQ228 View PostComment
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It would probably be a temporary deployment I suspect. They will need an additional two A350s to cover all of the MXP flights and I don't know if they are likely to get 3 arrive by then.Originally posted by Spaniard View Post
All current operations except MAN/IAH can be covered with 7 craft. With four additional A350s they could keep covering all of MAN/IAH and all of MXP/BCN except for the Friday night departure out of SIN. There may be other permutations as well but it inevitably comes down to needing a plane in the early hours of Sunday morning.
If they added FCO flights they would need another plane at 0400 on a Sunday. Adding CPH would require and additional two A350s at 0400 on a Sunday.
The other question that keeps arising is what plans does SQ have for the 77W in the future? They have pulled them off AMS, DME/IAH/MAN, future MXP/BCN. Eventually they will run out of destinations that support an F cabin to reassign them to. Then may come the argument that it's only 4 seats, in which case, why not leave those seats on MXP, redirect the A350s to CPH/FCO and get the old 772s off long hauls, or is an old 772ER more fuel efficient on a long haul than a 77W?Comment
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Perhaps with the sort of loads SQ gets, the 772ER is more cost-efficient than a 77W......which is kind of dire. But i'm just speculating.Comment
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Good point - I would hope the 77Ws can help make the offer in some Australian destinations a bit more consistent on those destinations with a mix of 330/772/77W and 380.Originally posted by SQ228 View Post
Or perhaps some network expansion into the US?Comment
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It isn't that exacerbated though. Like the next raft of A350s will be ULR and Regional variants. ULR relieves 359 and in turn 77W but Regional relieves 330/772.Originally posted by Spaniard View Post
YVR direct or some other new Americas destination would be great.Comment
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Any chance the 772 for TPE-SIN (SQ879) or SIN-HKG (SQ868) will be replaced with the A350 by late July?
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SQ879 is operated by A330. Highly unlikely as Business Class demand is not very strong on the SIN-TPE route.Originally posted by sqjjs View PostAny chance the 772 for TPE-SIN (SQ879) or SIN-HKG (SQ868) will be replaced with the A350 by late July?Comment
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9V-SML is out of cabin fit and has entered the Paint Hanger. She should roll out at the end of February. Delivery could take place at the end of March or early April.Comment
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Will SML be in a long-haul or regional configuration? I recall a forum member mentioned after the 11th aircraft, it would be regional. But SQ hasn't announced the new regional cabins and I highly doubt they plan on fitting the current regional seats on the new A350s.Originally posted by SQKevin View PostComment
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I thought SMK was to be the first with the "Regional" seating configuration?Originally posted by jaywell View PostComment
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I think it was mentioned here a while back that they are continuing with further long haul configurations. If not, then MXP/BCN won't be going A350 for a long time and neither will CPH or FCO.Originally posted by jaywell View Post
Perhaps the eleven figure was based on roughly what would be required to replace the SV* series on long haul flights plus extra for AMS and DUS, but since the time they made the decision they've decided to start up SFO directs and then MAN-IAH as well as DME-ARN. All the spare 77W capacity can now be used on some of the routes the regional A350 might have flown for the time being.
If MXP/BCN goes A350, that's SMK and SML. SMM and SMN would be needed for CPH and SMO for FCO which I believe has been announced to expand to 4x weekly at some point. It will be interesting to see what their plans are for CHC and whether it would get a long-haul variant of the A350.Comment
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