- Singapore Airlines is launching a series of ultra-long-haul nonstop flights between the US and Singapore.
- Many of these flights use the airline's new Airbus A350-900 ULR aircraft, which are fitted with only business class and premium economy.
- This includes its recently relaunched nonstop service between Singapore and New York, the longest flight in the world.
- According to Singapore Airlines, it has been tougher than expected convincing passengers of the merits of premium economy.
Singapore Airlines is facing no problem selling business-class tickets on its ultra-long nonstop flights to the United States but is having to price premium economy seats very attractively, a senior executive said on Wednesday.
The carrier last month resumed after five years the world's longest commercial flight, a nearly 19-hour nonstop journey from Singapore to New York.
The airline ordered seven new ultra-long-range twin-engine Airbus SE A350-900 ULRs fitted with just 67 business-class seats and 94 premium-economy seats for those flights and for nonstop services to Los Angeles and San Francisco. These flights have no economy-class seats.
It represents a major expansion in the US market for Singapore Airlines and a test of whether the carrier can charge the 20% price premium that travel-industry data shows is typical for ultra-long nonstop services because of their popularity with time-sensitive business travelers.
Singapore Airlines' executive vice president of commercial, Mak Swee Wah, said there was existing demand for business class that he expected would continue to pick up.
For premium economy, however, he said some markets were not "entirely familiar" with the product, which offers more legroom and other amenities than economy class.
"I think we need to continue to stimulate and encourage the market to consider this product, initially with very attractive pricing, but eventually I think people will see that even at prices which we offer it is a good product to purchase because it is a very long flight," he said at an analyst and media briefing.
His comments came after Singapore Airlines reported on Tuesday an 81% plunge in second-quarter net profit, hurt by higher fuel prices, lower airfares, and noncash losses at its part-owned Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd.
Yields, a proxy for ticket prices, fell 2.2% in the second quarter compared with a year earlier, failing to help offset the impact of a 24% rise in fuel prices.
Read more: I flew on the world's longest flight in premium economy — here's what the 18-hour voyage was like.
Singapore Airlines is offering premium-economy fares as low as 1,698 Singapore dollars, or $1,230.17, round-trip from Singapore to New York for weekday travel over part of the peak Christmas travel period, according to its website.
That is in line with economy-class fares from premium rivals like Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways and the Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based Emirates that require a stop and a longer travel time, according to a Reuters search on Expedia.
Mak declined to comment on whether Singapore Airlines could consider changing the configuration of the plane to include more business-class seats.
When it previously flew to New York and Los Angeles nonstop on four-engine A340-500 jets that used more fuel, it had initially offered both "executive economy" and business class but later switched to an all-business-class configuration. Those flights were abandoned in 2013 when high fuel prices made them uneconomic.