But the lie-flat business class seats will have to wait for now

Singapore Airlines will begin operating Silkair’s Boeing 737-800 fleet from early 2021. The commencement is ‘slated to happen between January and March 2021’, Singapore Airlines reportedly told Executive Traveller in a report.

On top of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft, Singapore Airlines will also add 737-NG aircraft type to its fleet, providing the company with more flexibility to navigate through the recovery period.

Lie-flat business class seats on hold for now

According to Executive Traveller, the flag carrier is however not rolling out the lie-flat business class seats as yet.

The airline was planning to upgrade the recliner seats on Silkair’s Boeing 737-800 to the lie-flat Vantage model made by Thompson Aero. This will bring the premium cabin experience in line with the wide-body fleet, providing a more consistent offering across the airline.

The Vantage seat will be laid out in with either one or two seats on each side of the aisle, with the number of seats alternating between each row. Singapore Airlines is likely to keep the number of business class seats on each aircraft at 12, similar to what it currently offers.

Singapore Airlines was also going to install seatback screens for all the narrow-body aircraft, which is also likely going to take a while now in view of Covid-19.

Final thoughts

This transition into Singapore Airlines has taken quite a long road, with the first announcement made some time back in late-2018. Over the past year and more, Singapore Airlines has made moves towards consolidating its operations, including integrating some backend functions. More notably, the website was earlier merged into Singapore Airlines’ website since April 2019.

While we await the first Singapore Airlines painted Boeing 737-800 aircraft to formally join the family, here’s one of the Boeing 737 MAX that was previously painted, as it remains grounded until the approval is given for it to take to the skies again.