In the coming days, Singapore Airlines will be retiring its final Boeing 737-800, which means the airline will finally be offering a new level of consistency throughout its fleet. Thanks to Mainly Miles for flagging this.
At its peak, Singapore Airlines had nine 737-800s in its fleet, and they’ve been progressively retired over the years. Funny enough, these planes have been mostly headed to Australia, where they’re flying for Qantas and Virgin Australia.
Once the last 737-800 is retired, the Star Alliance carrier will have the Boeing 737 MAX 8 as its sole narrow body aircraft. The airline has 19 of those in its fleet, with an additional 10 on order.
The retirement of the 737-800 has major implications for the carrier’s overall fleet. With this development, Singapore Airlines will finally offer flat bed business class seats, inflight Wi-Fi, and seat back entertainment, throughout its fleet. As it stands, the sole remaining 737-800 is the only plane in the fleet to only have recliners in business class, and to not have Wi-Fi or seat back entertainment onboard.
Singapore Airlines’ 737 MAXs have fully flat business class seats in a staggered layout. The cabin has 10 seats, with two rows being in a 2-2 configuration, and one row being in a 1-1 configuration. Side note — Singapore Airlines would have direct aisle access from business class in its entire fleet if it weren’t for those four window seats on the 737 MAXs.
Singapore Airlines’ history with the Boeing 737-800
For those not familiar, the backstory of Singapore Airlines operating Boeing 737s is interesting, because prior to several years ago, Singapore Airlines had an all wide body fleet (okay, at some point going back a long time the airline operated wide body planes, but let’s not go back that far).
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on One Mile at a Time.
