Singapore Airlines all-new Business Class: What the teasers tell us

Last month, Singapore Airlines announced a S$1.1 billion plan to upgrade the cabins on 41 Airbus A350-900 long-haul (LH) and ultra long range (ULR) aircraft by 2030, a clear signal that it had run out of patience waiting for Boeing to get its act together.

This shouldn’t come as any big surprise. SIA had originally intended to debut its next-generation seats on the Boeing 777-9 as early as 2021, but the endless dysfunction in Everett caused that timeline to slip repeatedly. And given that SIA isn’t even the launch customer, it could very well be 2027 before the first aircraft arrives (or later!).

But the plight of the Boeing 777X programme is another topic for another time, as the spotlight now is on SIA’s upcoming First and Business Class offerings. A recent patent filing  leak may have already spilled the beans on the new First Class seats, but omerta surrounding Business Class still holds— for now. 

Is this Singapore Airlines’ next-generation First Class seat?

Given that the first retrofitted aircraft is only expected to enter service in Q2 2026, it’s unlikely we’ll get any concrete details until Q4 2025 at the earliest. But during the announcement, SIA did provide a teaser: one render and one video (from which the second screenshot below is derived).

As expected, SIA is playing its cards close to its chest, and the renders don’t give away an awful lot. However, we can confirm a few things— some good, others perhaps less so. 

Singapore Airlines’ new Business Class seats

Singapore Airlines has said that the new Business Class seats have been built from the ground up, though when I first saw the renders, the Thomson Aero Vantage XL came to mind immediately. But having thought about it more and conferring with insiders, I’m now leaning towards something closer to the Safran Unity.

This is the same seat that Japan Airlines has chosen for its new Airbus A350-1000s. Qantas and Air India have also ordered the same seat for their upcoming Business Class launches.

It’s important to emphasise once again that SIA’s new Business Class will not be an off-the-shelf solution, so there’s only so much we can read into the photos above. 

That said, I feel confident enough saying the following.

There will be doors

The most obvious reveal is that Singapore Airlines will finally be joining the long list of airlines with doors in Business Class, and not a moment too soon. Doors have become the de facto standard for current generation Business Class seats, and even Malaysia Airlines is going to get them ahead of SIA!

For some reason, doors tend to be a divisive issue among the frequent flyer community. I cannot for the life of me figure out why, because I’m a proud member of Team Door:

• Doors provide greater privacy, the extent to which depends on the implementation (some airlines build them too low), but even perceived privacy can be a psychological win for the passenger
• On a commercial airplane where it’s all about real estate, doors help demarcate personal space and boundaries. Sort of like “This is my Business Class seat! There are many like it but this one is mine!”
• Some say that doors cause claustrophobia, but I personally enjoy the feeling of being in a snug space where I’m out of eyeshot of other passengers
• Doors provide a physical barrier against light pollution from inflight entertainment screens and some degree of noise absorption
• If you’re travelling with a companion, most seats with doors have an option to put down the centre privacy divider and turn the middle two seats into a personal little enclave
• Doors allow you to subtly signal to the crew that you wish to be left alone, in a way that might be a little less hostile than a big red “do not disturb” light
• In this age of post-COVID hypochondria, some passengers may appreciate every barrier they can put between them and the rest of the cabin

Even if you think that doors are overrated, you can always keep yours open if you prefer!

From the render, it looks like we can expect the doors and walls of the suite to be on the high side, which will present new challenges for service delivery (especially amongst the shorter crew members). At the same time, I think passengers will appreciate the greater privacy that these will afford.

No forwards/backwards seating

Another revelation from the teaser images was that SIA has decided against a forwards/backwards-facing configuration, like ANA with The Room, or Qatar Airways with Qsuites.

Forwards/backwards, also known as a yin-yang configuration, offers increased privacy and additional space due to a more efficient layout.

However, there are some passengers who simply dislike flying backwards, believing that it causes motion sickness (though I’m skeptical as to whether you can actually perceive backwards motion on a cruising aircraft). Moreover, a yin-yang configuration can lead to more unwanted eye contact, especially when suite doors have to be kept open during take-off and landing. 

Staggered configuration

Instead of forwards/backwards seating, SIA has gone with a staggered seating configuration. This creates two possible layouts, as shown below.

SIA might choose to go with the layout that Japan Airlines has done on their Airbus A350-1000, where the seats in the middle are divided by side tables regardless of row. However, I think it’s much more likely they’ll go with the honeymoon/divorce layout that other carriers have, such as Korean Air on their B787-10s. This alternates between rows of seats that are separated by side tables, and seats that are next to each other (which could potentially be converted into a double bed).

Either way, depending on row, some passengers will be seated closer to the aisle, and some will be seated closer to the window or centre. We can see this in the annotated image below, where the seat in focus is situated closer to the window, and the seat behind it closer to the aisle (you can also make out the edge of the side table of the second seat). 

This also implies that when fully reclined, passengers will be parallel to the aisle. I know there’ll be many relieved to hear this, as the current 2013 Business Class and 2017 Business Class seats require sleeping at an angle to the aisle, which some find unnatural. 

A staggered configuration will also provide a bigger cubby for feet, compared to SIA’s current long-haul Business Class seats. The existing cubbies, especially on the A350-900LH/ULRs, have received criticism for being too narrow especially for back sleepers.

No more seat flipping

Singapore Airlines went through a strange phase with its 2006 and 2013 Business Class seats, which require passengers to stand up and flip the seat over to convert it into a bed. 

But the 2017 Business Class seat discontinued this trend by allowing passengers to recline at any angle, all the way to flat. I much prefer this mechanism, and the teaser more or less confirms it’s here to stay. It would be almost impossible for the seat shown to have a flip-over design, given the difficulty in reaching over the wall to access the latch.

I think it’s telling that no other airline ever adopted the flip-over design, and good riddance if you ask me. While I can understand the case for such a design (it provides a uniform flat surface for sleeping, without seams), I dislike how restrictive it is in terms of the angles you can adopt. My preferred angle for sleeping on planes is about 160-170 degrees, which I find puts less strain on the lower back (remember, when cruising the aircraft flies with its nose slightly up).

More importantly, a recline-to-flat design can be adjusted immediately after take-off, without having to wait until the seat belt sign goes off. This allows passengers to eke out that much more sleep from a flight, which can be invaluable on those neither-here-nor-there redeye services.

Recline-to-flat is also much more intuitive for passengers, and will reduce the workload on crews. Flipping the seat may be second nature for SIA veterans, but on every flight I see at least a handful of people having issues with stuck seats requiring crew intervention.

Wide seats aren’t coming back

When SIA launched its 2006 Business Class seat, it set a new standard for width at 34 inches, wider even than some airlines’ First Class seats! In fact, there were some complaints that it was too wide, resulting in passengers bumping around awkwardly during turbulence, unable to brace themselves against an armrest. To address these concerns, a wider bolster-style pillow was added to help “wedge” the passenger into place. 

The 2013 Business Class seat cut the width to 28 inches, and the 2017 Business Class seat (found only on the Airbus A380-800s) to 25 inches. If you’re hoping to see a reversal of the trend, I’m sorry to say you’ll be disappointed, as the render all but confirms that we’re not going back to the wide seats of old. 

For comparison, Japan Airlines’ Safran Unity seats are 22 inches wide, but it’s worth noting that Qantas is promising 25 inches for a seat based on the same platform. If I had to guess, I’d lean towards the upper end of that range, though it really depends on how much space SIA has decided to give to the side table.

I know the 2018 Regional Business Class seat, found on the A350-900MHs and B787-10s, gets a lot of hate for its claustrophobia-inducing 20 inches of width (though you can gain a few more inches by lowering the armrests), but I’m sure SIA is aware that a long-haul seat can’t get away with such fine margins.

It’s not going to be 2006 all over again, but fears of a coffin should not materialise. 

What other features could be included?

While none of these details can be confirmed directly from the teaser, I’m hoping that Singapore Airlines’ next-generation Business Class seat will have the following too.

Secure storage lockers

Given the horror stories we read about onboard pilferage, storage lockers would be very much welcome indeed. 

The only airline I’m aware of having such a feature is Turkish Airlines, on their A350-900s (the B787-9s have similar seats, but do not have the storage locker). A simple three-digit combination lock provides a place for passengers to store valuables like wallets, passports and phones when they head to the loo, or when they retire for the night.

Qatar Airways has also announced its intention to have lockers on its next-generation Qsuites, set to debut on the Boeing 777-9 in 2025 2026 watch this space.

I’m sure the LockPickingLawyer or any half-decent locksmith would make short work of this, but it doesn’t need to be Fort Knox. The idea is that someone jiggling with a locked cabinet is going to attract much more attention than a surreptitious swipe while walking down the aisle. The crew, of course, will have a master key should a passenger forget their PIN. 

4K screens

The jury’s still out as to whether 4K screens on airplanes are great or gimmicks, but for what it’s worth, I do think it can make a difference. You’re seated much closer to the screen on an aircraft than you are in your living room, so every extra pixel helps.

In 2019, ANA became the first airline to introduce 4K screens on its new The Suite (First Class) and The Room (Business Class) seats. These have since been spotted on Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, Iberia and STARLUX, with Emirates, Lufthansa and United Airlines slated to introduce them in the near future.

The problem is that IFE content hasn’t caught up with technology yet; there’s no point having 4K screens when the majority of media is, shockingly, still encoded in 480p (that’s DVD quality, FYI)! On my ANA flight, the only 4K content to watch on that lovely screen was a tech demo. 

Content providers charge a premium for 4K media, so airlines often resort to upscaling lower resolution media into 4K using the IFE system. It’s a losing battle, if you ask me. 480p has 4% the pixels as 4K, and there exists no software that can magically fill in the remaining 96%. Upscaling produces mixed results, and with the larger screens in Business Class, motion blur and pixellation will be more apparent.

And even if airlines were willing to pay for 4K media, there’s also the question about having the bandwidth to deliver it onboard. 4K is a demanding beast, requiring around 25 Mbps for every 4K stream (multiply that by 300 seats and you’ll see the problem).

Some airlines have attempted to circumvent this by using a distributed system like Safran’s RAVE, where more popular content is stored locally on the seat’s own solid-state drive and  the rest is called from a server. But it’s an imperfect solution, as I discovered on a recent STARLUX flight where the server was on the fritz, and only some passengers were able to access the full range of options.

Hopefully 4K content will soon become more commercially viable, and the bandwidth bottleneck solved (or compression technology improved), allowing the technology to truly shine.

USB-C charging

Given that USB-C is now the de facto standard, it seems highly unlikely that SIA’s next-generation Business Class seats won’t feature it.

What is less clear, however, is how much power they’ll output. The latest generation of EmPower outlets, seen on STARLUX aircraft, already offer Type-C outlets with 60W charging (for comparison, your typical USB-A port provides a maximum of just 15W).

But a MacBook Pro usually requires about 60-96W for fast and efficient charging, and future devices will only get hungrier and hungrier. I’m personally hoping to see 100W, so all you’ll need to juice up your laptop will be a high-capacity Type-C cable. 100W is sufficient to charge a dead laptop to 50% in under 30 minutes, and to 85% inside an hour. That makes a huge difference on a shorter flight, especially when your device is on life support.

Wireless charging pads

Just like USB-C, wireless charging has become so widespread that it’s hard to picture it absent from SIA’s next-generation Business Class. But I’m not really a fan of wireless charging just yet for two main reasons: power and placement.

With regards to power, the charging rates I’ve encountered so far have been glacial. I don’t have any official stats, but I’d be surprised if it was higher than 5W. That’s especially a problem on regional flights, where the lack of time compels you to resort to wired charging, rendering wireless charging pads superfluous.

With regards to placement, the wireless charging pads I’ve had have been very finicky about where the device goes. Stray just an inch outside the lines, and that device you thought was juicing up will be dead by the time you wake. 

These are, thankfully, solvable problems. The next generation of wireless charging pads promise faster juicing and wider placement radii, and perhaps here’s where SIA may benefit by not being an early-adopter.

Even so, wireless charging is a relatively inefficient way of charging your phone, and has a tendency to generate excess heat. Wireless charging pads, by their nature, also make it difficult to interact with your device while charging, which is why I still prefer to go with wired.

Bluetooth audio connectivity

Another feature I feel certain we’ll see on SIA’s next-generation Business Class is Bluetooth audio connectivity. 

It’s quite clear that passengers want this already; witness the advent of stopgap solutions that plug in to existing aux jacks. Unless you’re flying in First Class, odds are your personal headphones are of better quality than what the airline has to offer, plus they’re in a form factor you’re already comfortable with (e.g. earbuds, over ear, on-ear, bone-conducting). 

Wireless connectivity also keeps your area free of pesky wires- already a bugbear in Business Class, but even more annoying in the cramped confines of Economy. And when more passengers start bringing their own headsets, airlines can cut back on the number they stock, reducing weight and cleaning/replacement costs. Everyone wins. 

What I’m hoping is that we’ll see an IFE system that supports two simultaneous Bluetooth connections, so couples can share a movie together.

Conclusion

Singapore Airlines’ next-generation Business Class seats are set to launch in Q2 2026, and even though the teasers haven’t revealed too much, they do confirm that these seats will have doors, and be arranged in a staggered configuration that removes the much-disliked seat-flipping and angled sleeping required by the existing seats. 

There will almost certainly be upgraded technology too, most likely in the form of 4K screens, wireless and USB-C charging, as well as Bluetooth audio support.

Unfortunately, there’s still a long wait for the new seats to arrive, and my overarching fear is that given the delays and the pace of competitor innovation, SIA’s new seats might be dated on arrival.

Time will tell.

What else did you manage to deduce based on the teaser images?