Singapore Airlines selects Airbus for A380 retrofit program

Airbus has been selected by Singapore Airlines (SIA) to provide cabin retrofit services for 14 of the A380 aircraft currently in service with the carrier.

The retrofit program, which will be undertaken at SIA Engineering in Singapore, will see the airline’s recently launched cabin products installed on the aircraft, including its amazing new first class. The new cabin products will debut on five new A380s to be delivered this year and next year.

Under the agreement, Services by Airbus will be responsible for Service Bulletin (SB) and aircraft cabin parts-kit delivery. Its teams will also contribute their A380 design knowledge and engineering expertise to integrate SIA’s customized cabin fittings into the A380’s double-deck interior. The retrofit work is expected to start in late 2018, with all 14 aircraft scheduled for completion by 2020.

Airbus’ Global Market Forecast projects that over the next 20 years the commercial aircraft upgrades services market will be worth US$180 billion, driven in part by high competition between airlines who value the ‘passenger experience’ as a differentiator (comfort, connectivity etc), as well as systems upgrades. Notably, 38% of this demand is predicted to come from the Asia-Pacific region.