Singapore - Singapore Airlines (SIA) has the business traffic between the US and Asia in mind when its newest aircraft, Airbus 340-500, begins its first daily direct flight from Singapore to Los Angeles (LA) on February 3.

It will be the longest commercial flight ever, and will also see the launch of SIA’s new Executive Economy Class that boasts a wider 37” seat pitch.

In total, the aircraft will feature just 181 seats, including 64 Raffles Class lie-flat SpaceBeds in a 2-2-2 seat layout with 64-inch seat pitch. The aircraft has been named A345LeaderShip and will also begin direct services to New York in August.

The flight to LA will take 16 hours and the return service about 18.5 hours, lopping off one-and-a-half and two hours respectively off the current one-stop flight.

The New York-Singapore service will take about 18 hours in each direction; travelling time from New York to Singapore will be shortened by two hours and from Singapore to New York by six hours.

SIA’s senior vice-president, commercial, Mr Michael Tan, said: “Unless we can offer non-stop services flights between Singapore and the US, we will not be able to make full use of the open-skies agreement with the US; it is difficult to continue to add one-stop flights because of restrictions imposed by countries along the way.”

The new aircraft’s cabin interior, service and flight schedules have all been designed with the business traveller in mind.

A new feature is the “passenger corners” in both cabin classes, where passengers can gather to socialise. The Executive Economy Class will also have an area where customers can help themselves to snacks and drinks. If the new direct flights to LA and New York are successful, SIA will consider flying direct to San Francisco and Chicago in the future.

SIA’s KrisFlyer members will receive double miles for travel on the A345LeaderShip from February until the end of May. A 25 per cent discount is offered on this flight on Raffles Class companion awards, upon the purchase of a regular Raffles Class ticket, during the same period.

The new service is in addition to the existing twice daily services to LA via Taipei and Tokyo. Tickets have been available from SIA ticketing offices, SIA website and travel agents since October 16.

SIA placed its order for 10 A340-500 in 1998 with five on firm order and five on option.

Meanwhile, Emirates will also be taking delivery of its A340-500 in December, the same time as SIA. It will initially operate the aircraft on new non-stop routes from Dubai to Australia and the US East Coast.

Mr Tan said the carrier expected capacity to return to pre-SARS levels by year-end and hoped to add capacity to China, India and Australia next year.