SIA to introduce premium economy in Delhi, Mumbai sectors

Singapore Airlines, which had earlier announced its plans to roll out premium economy services on its services from the second half of next year, has said it will also reconfigure the recently introduced superjumbo A380 on Delhi and Mumbai sector to carve out some premium economy seats in view of the growing demand.
The airline has, however, not yet decided on the pricing, senior vice president for product services Tan Pee Teck said.
The Southeast Asian carrier became the first global airline to launch the operations of the superjumbo to India, after the government lifted restrictions on the flights of the 'big bird' this January.

Teck, however, did not offer any timeline on the roll-out of the new segment.
When repeatedly asked about the pricing, Teck said, "If you look at the competition in the premium economy they have a surcharge of 20-80 per cent (over economy class). That's what the market is."
Even the economy class has some dozen-odd fare levels, the business class have few and first class has the least, he said, adding, "So it all depends how they are putting in the fares."

At present, the South-East Asian carrier's A 380 is configured in three classes -- suites, business and iconology.

The A 380 aircraft which have been deployed to service the Delhi and Mumbai sector has 471 seats with 399 in the economy, 60 in business class and and 12 suites.
In late January, government cleared the decks for A-380 operations from Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, lifting a five-year-old ban.
The restriction had been imposed in 2008 as the government had then felt these massive jets would help foreign airlines take away a large chunk of global traffic which could be detrimental to Indian carriers.