Singapore does Seattle in US route expansion

Singapore Airlines (SIA) will add Seattle to its roster of US destinations when it begins non-stop flights to the US destination in 2019. Seattle will become the fifth US city in Singapore's route network,  and the fourth to be served non-stop from Singapore, when three times weekly flights are launched September 3 using an Airbus A350-900. The frequency of the service will increase to four flights a week in October 2019. The airline said Seattle was one of the fastest-growing cities in the US, had a strong and diverse economy and was popular with tourists. The A350 will come equipped with 42 business class, 24 premium economy and 197 economy class seats and will depart Singapore at 9:25 am to arrive in Seattle t 9:05 am on the same day. “Our new non-stop flights to Seattle are another demonstration of our commitment to expand our operations in the important US market and grow our network reach,’’ SIA chief executive Goh Choon Phong said. “The new services will also further strengthen the Singapore hub by providing customers faster and more convenient connectivity from key markets such as Southeast Asia, South Asia and Australasia to North America.” Singapore currently flies to Houston, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. It is also expanding non-stop services to San Francisco from daily to 10 flights a week from November 28, 2018, bringing its US flights to 53 a week. This includes 27 non-stop services. Its non-stop flight between Changi and Newark, near New York,  is currently the longest in the world and uses a two-class Airbus A350-900ULR. READ Singapore Airlines flight was a night, a day and a night to remember. SIA is the launch customer for the A350-900ULR, which is capable of flying up to 9,700 nautical miles, or over 20 hours non-stop, and covers the  9,000nm (16,700km) flight to Newark in about 18 hours 45 minutes. It has seven of the ultra-long-range planes on order.