Singapore Airlines spends S$2 billion on luxury long-haul cabins

Singapore Airlines will spend S$2 billion — about €1.4 billion — on new long-haul cabins, an investment topped by a first-class double bed measuring 203 centimetres by 152: the largest in commercial aviation and, as the Daily Mail calculated, larger than most beds in British homes.

The cabins enter service from the second half of 2027, on retrofitted Airbus A350-900 long-haul and ultra-long-range aircraft and on new Boeing 777-9s. In first class, passengers seated together in the centre can fold their seats into a two-seater sofa by day and into the double bed at night, with a personal wardrobe, a vanity drawer and a cabin-baggage compartment beneath the ottoman. Business class gains sliding doors, a 127-centimetre seat pitch and a full-flat bed two metres long and up to 61 centimetres wide. Premium economy gets a 101-centimetre pitch; economy, 78 to 81. Every seat will have USB-C charging, personal headphones will pair with the KrisWorld entertainment system over Bluetooth, and business-class passengers receive pyjamas for the first time.

More than 5,000 frequent travellers, customers, staff and industry experts were run through focus groups, surveys and concept testing before the designs were settled. "While each cabin has been designed individually, they are united by the same ambition to make the experience more comfortable, flexible, and rewarding," said chief commercial officer Lee Lik Hsin.

The announcement landed in the same week that KLM confirmed 5,000 job cuts, close to 15 percent of its workforce, citing high fuel prices and global unrest. Two flag carriers, one industry: Singapore Airlines, recently named the world's best airline, is installing wardrobes and two-metre beds at the front of the aircraft; KLM is reducing the number of people who staff its cabins.

The divergence follows the money. The profit pool in long-haul flying has migrated forward through the cabin for years — the price-insensitive passenger at the front pays the margin, while economy class competes as a commodity on price alone. An airline that can sell a double bed does not need to win the fare war in the back rows. An airline that cannot has just announced where it cuts instead.

The new beds arrive in 2027. The KLM cuts were announced this week.