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SIA BETS ON "SPACEBED"

Fanfares, stage smoke, laser beams - such a show might well have made many a pop star envious. But the lead players of the latest quality offensive from Singapore Airlines (SIA), which advanced as if moved by a ghostly hand onto the stage in the futuristically redecorated ballroom of the elegant Shangri La Hotel in Singapore, turned out to be a new kind of reclining seat called the SpaceBed.

By transforming its business class, which bears the name Raffles Class after the founder of Singapore, the airline that is renowned for its service throughout the world is seeking to demonstrate its superiority compared with its competitors in the international market, despite the lean times associated with a global airline recession.

SIA is investing no less than $100 million into refurbishing its fleet, with the first retrofitted aircraft scheduled to enter revenue service in November, as Michael Tan, SIA's Senior Executive Vice President (Commercial), told the Press.

It was with mixed feelings that Tan announced that the larger seats would mean SIA would in future only be able to offer 50 seats in the business class area of a jumbo jet, compared with the previous 58 Raffles seats. To SIA, the loss of capacity will of course mean a painful loss of income in favour of increased passenger comfort. But SIA hopes to achieve higher income because of higher seat utilisation.

One restriction SIA has therefore imposed, even with the latest Raffles seats: to prevent the required seat pitch getting out of hand, the SpaceBed inclines downwards by 11-o so that it is not quite parallel to the cabin floor. Taking into account the angle of attack of the aircraft during cruise, however, in practice the seat inclination reduces to only 8-o.

The new reclining seat is electrically powered, enabling it to be transformed from the normal seat position into a flat, seamless bed within 18 seconds. The complicated control software used to operate the seats was developed by the German company KID-Systeme from Buxtehude, a subsidiary of Airbus. The seat itself was developed by a Swiss-Italian-American company. A flexible, high-tech seat foam filling invented by NASA is used in the seats.

Because the arm rests at the side can also be lowered to the level of the bed itself so that there is no gap, the SpaceBed is unusually wide and allows a number of different reclining positions, as SIA is proud to point out.

In contrast to British Airways, the airline which first pioneered reclining seats in Business Class, passengers seated next to each other fly parallel to each other under SIA, rather than being staggered to the side, as with BA. This means that one's neighbour's sockettes are not as close to one's face when one is in the reclining position, nor is one constantly looking him in the eye in the seated position, which the discreet Asians find particularly disturbing. At the same time all the passengers are facing the direction of travel, which most people are accustomed to and therefore prefer.

In the new-generation SpaceBed, SIA has also gone to great pains to ensure maximum comfort in the upright seat position. After all, not all reclining seats are also comfortable to sit in. With SIA it is not simply a matter of lowering the seatback to form a surface on which one can recline, as in the older seat models of other carriers, but in the upright position the SpaceBed incorporates a slight "seat hollow" at the back which is utilised until it is transformed into a completely flat bed. Even this 1.9m tall FLUG REVUE journalist had no problems with the length of the bed during a trial. Various additionally integrated, adjustable and inflatable support pillows continue to be standard with the SpaceBed, as they are already today in SIA's Raffles Class.

The back of the seat is always upright, so that the person behind is not inconvenienced, as is otherwise frequently the case, when the person in front is lying in the much lower position, and retains comfortable access to the relatively large touch-sensitive LCD (26.5cm diagonal) that is built into the seatback.

In the future Raffles Class, facilities will also be available for sending and receiving e-mail and surfing select Web content while in-flight. This connectivity will be provided by Tenzing and enable passengers to connect their own laptops. Satellite telephones have already been available from SIA passenger seats for several years.

The KrisWorld in-flight entertainment system will in future be based on the new MAS 3000 system from Matsushita Avionics. It offers a choice of 40 DVD films and short features on demand, i.e. giving continuous access to CD music and to 50 PC and networked Nintendo games, to which passengers in all classes and throughout the aircraft can connect.

Within a year SIA 45 747-400 Megatops and 777-200ER Jubilees on routes to Europe, America and Australasia will all have been retrofitted. The Boeing 747's which service SIA's London route will start being refurbished from November, in direct competition to BA. For the time being Singapore Airlines is not planning to fit the SpaceBed on its other aircraft types since, according to Michael Tan, the product is aimed at long-haul flights with compartment sizes of at least 50 seats. Interestingly, SIA's brand-new 777-200ER's on its new route from Singapore to Chicago via Amsterdam are for the first time to be configured with no First Class. On these planes the top seats will be Raffle Class.

"We believe that the market will grow in the long-term"

On the occasion of the product presentation in Singapore, Michael Tan, Senior Executive Vice President (Commercial) at Singapore Airlines, granted FLUG REVUE an exclusive interview.

FLUG REVUE: Mr. Tan, in 1998, in the middle of the then Asian crisis, SIA caused a big sensation because instead of cutting back on comfort, like your competitors, it actually raised the standard of service. This gained you a lot of new passengers and your business was soon back in good shape. Is the new Raffles Class a case of SIA resorting to the same strategy again in the face of the downturn in airline business?

Michael Tan: No, I don't think so. In fact the present enhancements to the Raffles Class have taken a considerable time to plan. The upgrade programme was initiated a long time ago and we are implementing it now because we continue to believe that the market will grow in the long-term. Naturally we want to ensure that we remain competitive.

FR: The proportion of private persons travelling by air is rising steadily. Against that background, will you also revamp your Economy Class?

Tan: As an international airline, we can actually detect this trend. The proportion of business and private travellers is roughly equal on our flights. However, we reviewed the Economy Class back in 1998 and we believe that it is still a very good product. But that doesn't preclude the possibility that product improvements could be undertaken there as well.

FR: In Germany SIA does not serve Munich directly, but only indirectly through codeshare flights with Lufthansa. Was this perhaps a case of opting out out of politeness to your Star partner Lufthansa, which, we understand, wanted to avoid direct SIA "competition" in Munich?

Tan: Definitely not just a case of politeness. What actually happened is that the question arose as to whether we should offer an extra daily service from Frankfurt, in line with passenger demand, or whether we should start a new single flight service from Munich. Basically, we are always considering new destinations in Germany, but they have to be examined very carefully in advance, especially from a commercial viewpoint. You will be aware that we have previously tried flying from Berlin. But I do not exclude the possibility that we will also fly to Munich one day. We work closely with our Partner Lufthansa.

FR: SIA has shareholdings all around the world and has placed a number of spectacular major orders for new aircraft. Your company is obviously following a strong growth path. Will you be so big one day that you are able to found your own alliance?

Tan: We have only just become a full member of the Star Alliance and we will definitely remain in the Star Alliance. However, we will develop further bilaterally and within Star. I don't see us starting our own alliance. We are benefiting from the Star Alliance.

FR: Boeing has unveiled a spectacular new project with its Sonic Cruiser, in which you have expressed an interest. How do you assess the Sonic Cruiser as far as SIA is concerned?

Tan: The Sonic Cruiser would cut an hour and a half off our journey time to Europe. It certainly sounds tempting. But on the other hand the aircraft could only be used for particular routes and departure times. For, after all, what use is it to me if I arrive earlier in Europe but then find myself banned from night time landing? I see the Sonic Cruiser simply as a supplement to specific routes. And it goes without saying that it must be profitable. We will have to check that out in advance.

FR: Could you imagine one day founding a business jet subsidiary, on the lines currently planned by some American airlines?

Tan: We don't have any plans in that direction. I think the USA is a very good place for such a project. You have a homogeneous state which is very liberal towards flying. Here in Asia the situation is quite different. There are so many countries, and so many time-consuming approvals would have to be obtained, that an equivalent project would probably not be worthwhile here. You need a homogeneous large domestic market, like the USA, for that.

FR: If you cast an eye to the future, where do you see SIA in ten years' time?

Tan: First of all we will continue to grow. We expect to grow by between six and eight per cent a year over the next five to seven years. SIA will expand its global networks further and become an even more international company than we already are today. The individual business fields should develop strongly ,and we want to become a truly global airline group. Especially important here is the cargo area, which already accounts for 20% of our total turnover today. That proportion will increase further. Air freight has the attraction to us that traffic and route rights play a much less important role here than in the passenger area.

From FLUG REVUE 10/2001, page 36