Singapore Airlines B777-9 Thread

[Tonitan]

Some of the 20 ordered 779s will mainly replace the 77Ws and unless SQ decides to retire 4 of their older unfitted A380s within the next 2-3 years. The A359 cannot all replace the 77W as the 77W have all 4 classes whilst the A350 basically do not have F class and carry slightly less pax. But SQ will have to order more 779s or the A350-1000 when the older refitted A380s are being retired. But that will be in another good 8 - 14 years from now unless SQ find the A380s too uneconomical to operate before that.

My flight deck contacts all mentioned a common point,the A380 operations are not profitable for the group and it carries the highest risk in terms of capacity redundancy and it is management’s priority to start replacing them. Ground operation & staffing costs are fixed regardless of load factor and this could be a major factor in the early retirement of the A380 fleet. Another puzzling point which nobody could really give a satisfactory explanation is, if the group had decided to replace the A380 with B779, why do they even bother to start the retrofit exercise. I suspect the snail’s pace of retrofitting might reveal a hint that a portion of the A380 will be retired with the first arrivals of the B779. Again this information cannot be verified and like they say, anything can still change as there is no official announcement. I Guess management are also exploring other options and leaving them open

[Tonitan]

Indeed!
Some 77Ws have already started to be replaced by A359.
I understand that at this point, the A35K is not in SQ plans and all 67 A350s on order are the -900 variant

Indeed! Currently management has no plans for additional A350, be it the 900/1000 or ULR variant. The current pool of 67, once they are fully delivered are sufficient to cover the group’s operational needs. I feel sad for the demise of the A380 and I try to book myself on one of them whenever possible! And I wonder what are they going to use the B77W for once the A359 progressively come online. There ain’t that many F routes that the 27 aircraft could sustain although I believe some B77W would be retired concurrently with some A380

[flyguy]

SQ will still maintain most of the A380s as 5 of these aircrafts are barely 2 years old. And SQ actually need to refit much faster of the Ver 1 and Ver 2 older A380s as the front end of the planes with 12 suites are not doing well at all and the need to reduce these by half to 6. And after budgeting and spending a huge amount to refit one A380, SQ will have to use them for another 6 - 10 years to recover its refit costs. Like mentioned earlier SQ may retire 4 of its older A380s mainly because they have some wing issues which requires more periodic checks and possibly repair.

[SQ957]

Is the 777-X comparable to the 77W in terms of range?

Yes, in fact Boeing designed it (the 779) to fly slightly longer than the 77W.

[MainlyMiles]

Yes, in fact Boeing designed it (the 779) to fly slightly longer than the 77W.

I don't think that's right. The quoted range of the 777-9 is 13,500km, slightly less than the 777-300ER (13,650km).

That means most of the west cost of the USA is too far for this aircraft non-stop (as it is for the 77W). It could do SFO, at a push, but would likely be load limited on the return flight to SIN against headwinds.

It's the 777-8 that has the long range capability (16,170km), but SQ hasn't ordered that variant.

[yuuka_miya]

I'd think it fair to say that a less dense SQ config might be able to make SFO without severe compromises.

[flyguy]

The 779 will more likely used for SQ1/2 which is via HKG. As SQ already have a non-stop to SFO using the A350ULR. But have seen on limited occassions SQ1/2 went direct due to certain conditions.

[Stratoliner777]

Here’s an article by Executive Traveller / Australian Business Traveler on the SQ 777X new F and J:

https://www.executivetraveller.com/n...business-class

Singapore Airlines: new first class, business class for Boeing 777X
The debut of Singapore Airlines' Boeing 777-9 will be accompanied by all-new first class suites and business class seats.

Speaking to Executive Traveller ahead of the delivery flight of the airline's first Boeing 787-10 in 2018, Goh said the airline's "product innovation team has already begun to conceptualise on what product we should introduce in the 777-9, what they should be like. We will of course be going out to our customers to get better ideas about what they really want in the next quantum leap of our product."

[sbs2716g]

And in that article, it mention that the 777-9 will be replacement for 777-300ER

[Avenger777]

Here’s an article by Executive Traveller / Australian Business Traveler on the SQ 777X new F and J:

https://www.executivetraveller.com/n...business-class

New FCL Suites will have to be 1-1 if its going to be a "quantum leap" from today's FCL on the 777

[yuuka_miya]

New FCL Suites will have to be 1-1 if its going to be a "quantum leap" from today's FCL on the 777

Would 1-1-1 like the EK enclosed suites or CX be possible, especially with the wider cabin of the 777X?

[SQ957]

I don't think that's right. The quoted range of the 777-9 is 13,500km, slightly less than the 777-300ER (13,650km).

That means most of the west cost of the USA is too far for this aircraft non-stop (as it is for the 77W). It could do SFO, at a push, but would likely be load limited on the return flight to SIN against headwinds.

It's the 777-8 that has the long range capability (16,170km), but SQ hasn't ordered that variant.

Oops my bad! It does look like they have reduced the range of the 777-9 though, because up until a year ago they quoted the range of the 777-9 to be 7,600nmi or 14,075km.

https://www.flightglobal.com/systems...131858.article

https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2018-11...Comes-Together


What a shame, this was on top of the range reduction since they first introduced the 777X in 2013, when the 777-9 had a quoted range of 8,200nmi (15,185km):

https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2013-11...nd-Commitments

[9V-JKL]

Would 1-1-1 like the EK enclosed suites or CX be possible, especially with the wider cabin of the 777X?

You do realize its only a mere 10cm wider. That's not a lot.

[9V-JKL]

Oops my bad! It does look like they have reduced the range of the 777-9 though, because up until a year ago they quoted the range of the 777-9 to be 7,600nmi or 14,075km.

What a shame, this was on top of the range reduction since they first introduced the 777X in 2013, when the 777-9 had a quoted range of 8,200nmi (15,185km):

Boeing actually revised the way they calculate range and thus the supposed "reduction"
https://www.flightglobal.com/boeing-...117817.article

[hybridace101]

BA received their first 777-300ER (77W) in 2010, and even the world's first 77W to Air France was delivered in the mid 2000s. You must be referring to a BA 777-200ER.

Just out of curiosity, does Boeing still accept orders for the 77E or did it accept 77E orders whilst 77Ws were rolling out of the factory?