Silk Air selects Thomson Aero for their new business class flat bed seats

Singapore Airlines announced last year that prior to folding their short-haul subsidiary Silk Air into Singapore Airlines, they’d upgrade Silk Air to the same cabin standards and install flat bed seats! Now, they have announced Thomson Aero as the provider of the seats and the installation will start this year. That’s good news as Thomson Aero makes some very good business class seats, find out more below!

Singapore Airlines announced that Thomson Aero will be the provider of the flat-bed seats, but didn’t provide the model they chose. They did describe them as staggered, facing forward and in line with Singapore Airline’s other regional product, the Stelia Solstyce III below:

That leaves us guessing. The most likely choice of seats is the Thomson Vantage, which has been deployed on other single-aisle planes, like in JetBlue’s Mint, and offers a forward-facing seat in a staggered layout, alternating in a 2-2, 1-1, 2-2 layout, resulting in some good and some fantastic “throne” seats. 

While this wouldn’t offer aisle access to all passengers, this is a very comfortable seat for lounging and for sleeping, with 6 out of 10 passengers having aisle access. It meets the description in the press release and has been proven in practice, making it the likely choice for conservative Singapore Airlines.

The alternative would be the new Thomson Product specifically designed for single-aisle planes, called the Thomson Solo. It is a high-density product that would not only offer a flat bed, but direct aisle access for all passengers.

But it’s angled towards the aisle and not staggered, so unfortunately, not likely to be the Silk Air seat of choice. I do wish they had been a little more aggressive and picked the Thomson Solo, giving everybody aisle access. It’s an important feature, especially for business travelers.

Nevertheless, I applaud Singapore Airlines for offering a consistent experience across their fleet, regardless of the plane you fly in, by installing flat-bed business class seats on all planes. It makes no sense to sometimes offer a recliner seat and sometimes a flat bed on the same route, depending on the luck of the draw for the plane you get. 

 

 


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