SIA Record For Longest Non-Stop Commercial Flight

4 May 2004

Singapore Airlines To Set A New World Record For World’s Longest Non-Stop Commercial Flight

Singapore Airlines (SIA) will commence its first non-stop service from Singapore to
New York on 28 June 2004 setting a new record for the world’s longest non-stop
commercial flight.

The Singapore to New York service will beat the existing record set on 3 February this year with the launch of SIA’s non-stop services between Singapore and Los Angeles.

SIA’s record-breaking A340-500 aircraft, called the A345LeaderShip, will travel over 16,600 km (around 9,000 nautical miles) on the Singapore to New York route. The flight will take about 18 hours in each direction and save passengers up to four hours in travel time, as compared to the existing one-stop services.

The distance covered on the SIA Singapore to Los Angeles service is 14,762 km or 7,971 nm.

Flight SQ22 will depart Singapore for New York (Newark airport) at 1205 hours and arrive in the Big Apple at 1830 hours the same day. The return service will depart from Newark at 2300 hours and touch down in Singapore at 0535 hours two days later.

“The schedule allows passengers to connect easily to onward points in the US and to other parts of Asia, depending on the direction of travel,” said Mr Huang Cheng Eng, SIA’s Executive Vice President, Marketing and the Regions. “Business travellers, in particular, will appreciate the convenience and time savings of non-stop travel, as well as the spaciousness and comfort of the A345LeaderShip.”

With this daily non-stop service, SIA will increase its frequency to New York from 11 to 14 times weekly.

The non-stop service will be operated using SIA’s ultra-long-range A345Leadership, the world’s first all premium long-haul aircraft. Specially designed for the business traveller, it focuses on customer comfort and convenience and features just 181 seats in a spacious two-class configuration.

The new Executive Economy Class offers 117 seats in a 2-3-2 configuration, with a seat pitch of 37 inches and a seat-back recline of eight inches. The Executive Economy Class seat is also industry’s widest at 20 inches, and is complimented with a leather adjustable headrest, an innovative leg and foot rest, a nine inch personal video monitor, and AC power supply outlets for customers who wish to power up their laptops in-flight.

The Raffles (business) Class Cabin features 64 of the Airline’s renowned lie-flat SpaceBeds. Arranged in a 2-2-2 configuration, the seats have a wider seat pitch at 64 inches, a bed width of 26 inches, a bed length of 78 inches, adjustable headrest, leg rest and lumbar support, a 10.4 inch personal video monitor, AC power supply, and a DVD port.

All seats are equipped with SIA’s well-known in-flight entertainment system, KrisWorld, offering over 300 entertainment options, including 60 on-demand movies, over 75 TV programmes and a host of music, technology, travel and children’s programmes. The system also features over 100 music CD albums, and more than 30 Nintendo® games. With “on-demand” audio, TV, and movie channels, the passenger is able to pause, fast-forward or rewind a CD or movie anytime.

This premium aircraft is designed to allow passengers to move around and socialise if they wish to with passenger corners in both Raffles and Executive Economy Class cabins, where passengers can stretch out while helping themselves to an array of drinks and snacks.

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