Singapore Airlines' new cabins are basically a hotel room in the sky
It's the hotel experience you always wanted, 39,000 feet in the air.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) on Thursday officially unveiled its new cabins for its Airbus A380 fleet -- its first major interior overhaul of its fleet of the jumbo jet since 2007, when it became the first carrier to operate the A380.
Four years of development, and $850 million later, the results are pretty stunning.
Naturally, the new first class suites are the main draw.
Stepping into the plush suite:
The new first class cabin features just six suites, down from 12, a move that SIA says gives a sense of "exclusivity and intimate privacy."
Each suite is equipped with an automated swivel leather chair, 32" HD TV, a wardrobe and a separate full-flat bed.
If you're travelling as a couple, two suites can be joined together and turned into a double bed.
Each bed is 6'3" long and 2'2" ft wide -- so that's almost 5 feet wide if you join two single beds together.
And of course, those in first class get their own lavatories, because who wants to share with the hoi polloi?
There are two lavatories, one of which has its own sit-down vanity counter -- though unlike competitor Etihad's new first-class offering, there isn't a shower facility.
Business class isn't too shabby either
Seats in business class come in at 6'5" long, with an adjustable divider between the business class suites, so you can lower the divider to form a double bed.
Seats also recline to a full-flat position with just a touch of a button.
First class and business class suites have now been relegated to the upper deck, with the lower deck reserved solely for premium and premium economy.
Premium economy gets more reclining
Premium economy also looks pretty sweet, and is able to recline eight-inches back.
There's also a calf-rest and foot bar if you need to stretch out.
For the rest of us in economy, at least there's free-flow alcohol.
If you look closely you'll also notice the seats have also been fitted with a contactless credit card reader.
An SIA spokesperson said that travellers would "soon" be able to use their contactless credit cards onboard, but did not give an exact time frame.
Passengers will also have more control over the in-flight entertainment system, and will be able to bookmark and save shows they've already watched.
For example, if you're halfway through Spiderman, you'll be able to pick up where you left off the next time you hop on an SIA plane -- provided you log in on SIA's loyalty programme, KrisFlyer.
For now, this personalised feature is limited to the new A380s.
"If you look at our suites, it's not just visually [attractive], but you find the usability aspect is even more important, and that is the part that takes a lot more thinking and work," SIA CEO Goh Choon Phong told Mashable at the launch event.
Passengers travelling from Singapore to Sydney from Dec 18 will be the first to step foot on the new A380 planes. Only five A380s will be initially fitted with the new seats, though eventually all 19 of SIA's superjumbos will be fitted.
SIA has yet to announce which countries the A380 will serve next, but Goh noted that the list, and pricing details would be announced later.
"Pricing is a matter of demand and supply, it will [depend on] what the market demand is," he said.
The new A380s will see a total of 471 seats: six first class suites, 78 business class seats, 44 premium economy and 343 economy class seats.
Yvette is a Viral Content Reporter at Mashable Asia. She was previously reporting for BBC's Singapore bureau and Channel NewsAsia.
