18 hours non-stop (in the air, that is)

[rotornut]

Airlines To Fly Non-Stop To New York From 28 June 2004
3 May 2004

Singapore Airlines (SIA) will commence its non-stop service to New York from 28 June 2004.

The Singapore to New York flight will set a new record for the world’s longest non-stop commercial flight, beating the existing record set on 3 February this year with the launch of SIA non-stop services between Singapore and Los Angeles.

SIA’s record-breaking A340-500 aircraft, called the A345LeaderShip, will travel over 16,600 km (around 9,000 nautical miles) on the Singapore to New York route. The flight will take about 18 hours in each direction and save passengers up to four hours in travel time, as compared to the existing one-stop services.

The distance covered on SIA’s Singapore to Los Angeles service is 14,762 km or 7,971 nm.

Flight SQ22 will depart Singapore for New York (Newark airport) at 1205 hours and arrive in the Big Apple at 1830 hours the same day. The return service will depart from Newark at 2300 hours and touch down in Singapore at 0535 hours two days later.

“The schedule allows passengers to connect easily to onward points in the US and to other parts of Asia, depending on the direction of travel,” said Mr Huang Cheng Eng, SIA’s Executive Vice President, Marketing and the Regions. “Business travellers, in particular, will appreciate the convenience and time savings of non-stop travel, as well as the spaciousness and comfort of the A345LeaderShip.”

With this daily non-stop service, SIA will increase its frequency to New York from 11 to 14 times weekly. This includes the daily one-stop service SIA operates via Frankfurt to the city. The existing one-stop service via Amsterdam, which operates four times weekly, will be discontinued.

SIA A345LeaderShip

The non-stop service will be operated using SIA’s ultra-long-range A345Leadership, the world’s first all premium long-haul aircraft. Specially designed for the business traveller, it focuses on customer comfort and convenience and features just 181 seats in a spacious two-class configuration.

The new Executive Economy Class offers 117 seats in a 2-3-2 configuration, with a seat pitch of 37 inches and a seat-back recline of eight inches. The Executive Economy Class seat is also industry’s widest at 20 inches, and is complimented with a leather adjustable headrest, an innovative leg and foot rest, a nine inch personal video monitor, and AC power supply outlets for customers who wish to power up their laptops in-flight.

The Raffles (business) Class Cabin features 64 of the Airline’s renowned lie-flat SpaceBeds. Arranged in a 2-2-2 configuration, the seats have a wider seat pitch at 64 inches, a bed width of 26 inches, a bed length of 78 inches, adjustable headrest, leg rest and lumbar support, a 10.4 inch personal video monitor, AC power supply, and a DVD port.

All seats are equipped with SIA’s well-known in-flight entertainment system, KrisWorld, offering over 300 entertainment options, including 60 on-demand movies, over 75 TV programmes and a host of music, technology, travel and children’s programmes. The system also features over 100 music CD albums, and more than 30 Nintendo® games. With “on-demand” audio, TV, and movie channels, the passenger is able to pause, fast-forward or rewind a CD or movie anytime.

This premium aircraft is designed to allow passengers to move around and socialize if they wish to with passenger corners in both Raffles and Executive Economy Class cabins, where passengers can stretch out while helping themselves to an array of drinks and snacks.

[404 Titan]

This premium aircraft is designed to allow passengers to move around and socialize if they wish to with passenger corners in both Raffles and Executive Economy Class cabins, where passengers can stretch out while helping themselves to an array of drinks and snacks.
Really. I thought this type of thing wasn’t allowed on flights to and from the USA. Frankly they can have the 18 hours none stop. I will take the stop every time.

[pilot74]

18 hours non-stop!!
How does SIA get around flight time limitations on a flight like that? Especially with a 2300 departure from Newark. Poor guys.
I suppose its a sign of things to come.
Pilot74.

[HotDog]

Easy, a heavy crew with in flight rest.

[cargoflyer]

How to have an Airbus adventure in the discomfort of your home

Are you flying on airline "xyz" to or from "a-b" soon?

Unfortunately for you the B747 seems to have been withdrawn on these routes and you will have to endure a trip on one of the new and dreadful Airbus A340-600 aircraft.

To simulate an Airbus A340-600 trip you will need the following items:

Dining room chair with arms.

Dining room table with flap section in the down position.

Four or five lounge suite cushions. Dark blue will be more realistic.

Two-door wardrobe or full-height wall unit.

Square waste paper basket.

Three wooden coat hangers.

Four house bricks.

Hair dryer.

Photocopy of an image of Africa, smaller than A4.

Large plastic bag containing a couple of empty plastic bottles and cups.

A large heavy book, like an encyclopedia.

About 11 hours.


Preparation

Push the wardrobe into the bathroom. Leave a narrow gap to reach the toilet with your shoulders scrinched forward.

The correct spacing is achieved when you are sitting on the toilet and both your arms are pinned to your sides. Washing your face in the basin should result in you banging your head against the mirror.

Place the dining room chair close to the dining room table in such a way that to get into the chair you have to lever your backside over the arm. Make sure the chair is not comfortable - the seat on the plane is not.

Remember that on the plane you will have to use the backrest of the seat in front of you as a support to lever yourself out of or into your seat.

This will irritate the person sitting in front of you but don't worry, because the person sitting behind you will do the same to you. In fact, everyone on the plane will be irritated.

Place the lounge suite cushions on the dining room table directly in front of you so that they progressively come closer and closer to your face when you are sitting in the chair. This simulates the seat in front of you on the plane.

You have the correct spacing when you can measure the distance between your face and the cushions with an old copy of Readers Digest.

Hang the plastic bag with empty bottles and cups between your knees to simulate the small pocket on the plane that seems to be overflowing all the time .

Place the wooden coat hangers in the square wastepaper basket and place the basket where your feet will go when you are sitting in the chair. This will simulate the space under the seat in front of you on the plane.

On the plane there is a metal box directly where you place your feet. I have been assured it is for the in-flight entertainment system. You can simulate the discomfort on the actual flight by placing the four house bricks at your feet.

Pin the photocopy of the image of Africa on the top cushion closest to you. This simulates the in-flight entertainment system. The less detail on the image the more realistic it will be. (I see they have moved Lagos?)

Although I have flown many times I have never seen the in-flight entertainment system actually work, although, to be fair, I have a friend who has a girl friend who knows someone who has.


Simulation

Being airline "xyz", the flight will leave late and arrive late.

This is not such a bad thing because you get more time to catch the plane, but you will probably miss any connecting flight, unless you are flying on to Moscow. For some reason, flights to Moscow will always wait for you. I wonder why?

Sit in the dining room chair for at least 11 hours to get a real feel for the forthcoming trip.

(Yes, I know the dining room chair is much bigger than the seats on the plane.)

When you sit on the dining room chair, switch on the hair dryer and point it at yourself for the first hour or so.

This will simulate the hot atmosphere you will experience while waiting for the plane to move. (Even in Europe in winter.) Unlike other planes, the Airbus A340-600 aircraft do not have individual air vents.

If you have an aisle seat, you need to have someone bang your arm and shoulder every so often with the encyclopedia to simulate the various trolleys going past.

Food will not be possible to simulate because it is very difficult to present food in the manner you will find on the plane.

I have tried different ways of making omelettes but they always come out yellow in colour.

Someone suggested that the "airline xyz" food is done with grey food colouring but all the shops I have tried said they had never heard of grey food colouring.

Bon voyage.

[highcirrus]

Regular readers will be very well aware of my unstinting criticism of the antediluvian SQ management methodology and its draconian personnel and pay policies.

However, I find myself, for the first time ever, defending the organization!

Anyone who thinks a transit stop in AMS or FRA is preferable to a direct 18 hr flight SIN-JFK on the A340-500 has got to have their head up their a*se. The flight for the pax will be (on the basis of SIN-LAX experience) a sociable and enjoyable event, due, most probably, to the stand-up bar arrangements on board and for the crew is a real doddle with the formalized rest procedures insisted upon by the CAAS.

By all means criticize SQ on the basis of its disgusting attitude towards its loyal and highly professional staff but not on the basis of an innovative move much to the benefit of the travelling public.

[Mooney]

If you can't last the flight, SIA even cater for that.

Extra Legroom (http://www.airliners.net/open.file/529497/M/)

[B737NG]

18 hours! and where is the problem? 2 full crews and off you go!.
You have plenty of days to recover from that and if you cannot
stand it... look for another position. There are commuters they
fly 18 minutes and they complain as well... too many cycles!.
Whatever happens, there are never people satisfied what they
actually do. The grass is greener on the other side.

NG

[lasernigel]

Think Cargoflyer is definitely anti Airbus.If he had bothered to read the passenger layout at the beginning of this thread maybe he wouldn't have burbled on for so long.Better to have an aircraft dedicated for a route rather than keep modifying it until it fits the bill.Certainly can't remember any pleasant flights in Boeing 747 cattle class,only when I paid decent money to fly business did I get anything near the same sort of service one gets out of SIA economy.

[hailstone]

mooney

looks like one ofthem hotels i used to stay a in japan

[jdoe]

Emirates has it configured for 258.I know which I would rather be on for 18 hrs!!!

[BRUpax]

I guess there will be a (limited?) market for 18 hour flights. However, I believe that many like myself will still opt for the two sectors and even a stopover. For the next few years we'll still have the choice. But what after that? 12 hours in Business Class is more than enough for me already. 18 hours :eek: , no thanks.

[White Knight]

Well cargoflyer, I had the mispleasure of flying from LAX to LHR on one of BA's and Boeing's finest once(744). What a nasty experience, I had to stand the ENTIRE way, as I could barely lever myself into the seats:mad: :mad:
How comfortable the seats are depends largely on the operator, and the config that they choose.
For my money though give me the 'bus ANY day of the week, especially shorthaul:ok:

[beamer]

Seem to remember RAF C130 crews flying in excess of 24 hours back in 1982 with aid in the odd Victor tanker and still landing where they started ! Come to think of it I think the record may have been 28 hours - ouch !!!!!!!!!

[Niaga Dessip]

18 hours may be the record for present day aircraft and schedules, but I think the non-stop LAX - Copenhagen SAS schedule on a DC7C in the late fifties was in the region of 21 hours. If I am wrong, then my apologies as I was only a nipper when I had that pleasure. Although my legroom requirements weren't great, I think passenger comfort in those aircraft was good, but the noise was something else!

Cheers.
Niaga Dessip:=

[greybeard]

Mutter Mutter Mutter.

WWII, Perth to the now Sri Lanka

Longest was 30 hrs plus, two sunrises, no aircon, no hot meals, no S/E performance for the first 12 hrs, enemy action always possible, no noise suppression from the 2 radials.

We are a soft lot

Yes I used to walk to school on my hands first term so my new shoes would last longer as well.

C YA

Greybeard is back, old records got lost somewhere.

:{ :{ :ok: :ok:

[Andreas in SAF]

Cargo et al:

You are just sooo jealous of Airbus.

The A345 flies for too long, the A380 is just too big, the A318 is way too short, the A330 is just too efficient etc. etc.

Just let me sit in a B737, the older the better, and reminisce of the good old days....

[christep]

Cargoflyer's post is just so laughably ignorent in pretty much every aspect.

- Very few airlines seem to configure new aircraft with individual air vents these days.

- The seat pitch is purely down to the operator. If Cargoflyer had done any research at all he would have realised that SQ has a custom configuration for this flight with significantly more than a normal economy seat.

- It's an A340-500, not a -600.

- SQ's IFE is of a quality that is incomprehensible to people used to flying on US-based carriers. Full video and audio on demand. And it works.

- SQ cabin crew don't hit you with the trolley.

[Anotherpost75]

cargoflyer

Can you really be a professional aviator? For sheer puerile drivel, your piece of 4 April takes the biscuit. Maybe you should carefully re-read the rotornut post that started this thread – you might learn something of the excellence of the Airbus product and the intelligent, cutting edge configuring and use of it by an airline that doesn’t always receive the best of press in these august pages.

[Jarvy]

18 hours in BA,s finest business class no probs, 18 mins in holiday charter seats big probs. So you pays your money and takes your chose!

[Few Cloudy]

Should be alright - what a sickening name though - worthy of a British newspaper pun ("What's a school bus called? A scholarship etc...)

[timzsta]

An 18 hour flight, daily service, that arrives two days after it takes off......

Still trying to get my head around the dateline thingy!!!!

What do you do on the flight deck for 18 hours? Read the Airbus acronyms manual?:bored:

[View From The Ground]

Do SQ charge normal economy fares or a premium rate given their extra facilities? Personally I would prefer a stop if flying economy, although in Raffles I guess 18 hours would be fine.

[faheel]

yes they do 10% I think

[jstars2]

Nope! Last time I looked it was the same price.

[sidman]

All I hear about is you Brits bashing Boeing and how much everyone loves Airbus.. I hate flying on Airbus aircraft for 2 hours or 18 hours they are terrible.. They sound like they are going to fall apart every leg. Boeing on the other hand all sound solid and seem to be built well. I fly Boeing cargo jets and love them!!! Why
do you brits love the Airbus so much? Why do you hate Boeing so much? Why can't you Brits build your own jet being you are so good and telling everyone how one should be built!!

[Captain Rat]

As to why the Brits don't build their own plane, we are trying, bit by bit, lets start with the wings! (When we get that right we can move on)
As to air-vents. generaly the airline specifies whether to fit them or not. (Not sure about A340-800)
Airbus v Boeing. depends whether your pilot them, sit in them, maintain them etc. Both have their good points. Would be nice if the manuals etc could all be written in proper English on the Airbus (not some French interpretation of it)
As to comfort/spacing etc of seats, as was posted earlier, you pay your money and take your choice. I have personaly been on long haul flights on SQ and MH and in economy the seating/service are better by a long shot over BA VS CX (as to US airlines, say no more)

[lasernigel]

Sidman Maybe you ought to do some research and find out who makes wing components for Boeing before slagging off British engineering.
The idea of longer legs is also better for the airframe/engine, less take off and landing strains.

[Evanelpus]

Just out of interest, what will the route will this flight take?

[lasernigel]

Evanelpus According to info I have seen Singapore -New York..North east overflying Japan,far edge of eastern Siberia,Alaska and Northern Canada..Total distance 8500nm. New York to Singapore...North over pole route and south down through centre of Russia.Total distance 8970nm

[Evanelpus]

Thanks Nigel, sorry to all about the poor English in my request. Having a bad day, I think spelling and grammar will suffer as the day goes on!!

[chippy63]

Evan,
try this..
http://gc.kls2.com/

[HOVIS]

I thought adverts were not allowed on PPRUNE unless paid for!:E