Singapore Airlines Ltd plans to restart the world’s longest flights when it takes delivery of a new ultra-long-range plane made by Airbus Group SE in 2018.
The A350-900ULR jet will allow Singapore Air to resume the record non-stop flights between the city-state and both Los Angeles and New York, the carrier said in an emailed statement Tuesday.
Non-stop flights between Singapore and additional points in the US are under consideration.
"Our customers have been asking us to restart non-stop Singapore-US flights," Singapore Air chief executive Goh Choon Phong said in the statement. "We are pleased that Airbus was able to offer the right aircraft to do so in a commercially viable manner."
Singapore Air had held discussions with Airbus and Boeing Co on developing a plane with new technology that would allow it to fly nonstop to the US profitably, Mr Goh said in an interview in June.
In 2013, the carrier stopped the 19-hour trip from Singapore to Newark, New Jersey, adding about five more hours to travel between the cities. The journey covered more than 15,300 kilometres.
The daily, all-business-class flights from Singapore to Los Angeles and Newark ended as the routes were not profitable with four-engine aircraft, analysts said previously. The airline was using a 100-seat Airbus A340-500. Using a plane with two engines would be more economical, as it's designed for efficient long-range flights, analysts have said.
Singapore Air will take delivery of seven ultra-long range planes capable of flying up to 19 hours, Airbus said in a separate statement.
Optimised for non-stop flights to the US, the aircraft will include a modified fuel system to increase fuel-carrying capacity, an increase in maximum take-off weight and other aerodynamic improvements, Airbus said.
Currently, the world's longest flight is Qantas Airways Ltd's Sydney to Dallas service using Airbus's A380 superjumbo. Emirates intends to wrest away the title of the world's longest airline route with a service from its Dubai hub to Panama City.
That Emirates flight, using a Boeing 777-200LR, will traverse 13,821 kilometres, outstripping Qantas's service by 17 kilometres.