Singapore Airlines fleet

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The Singapore Airlines fleet features purely wide-body aircraft from four aircraft families: the Boeing 747, the Boeing 777, Airbus A380 and the Airbus A340. In keeping with its policy of maintaining a young fleet, which stands at an average of 6 years 5 months as at 31 March 2008, it renews its fleet frequently.cite web |url= http://www.singaporeair.com/saa/en_UK/docs/company_info/investor/financial/NewsReleaseFY0708.pdf|title= Annual Report 07/08|accessdate=2008-05-18 |format= |work= ]

The airline names its fleet according to plane makes. The Boeing 747-400s were called "Megatop", the Boeing 777s were called "Jubilee" and the Airbus A340-500s were named "Leadership". Names for airliners previously flown by the airline include: "Superbus" for the 8 Airbus A300, "3TEN" for the 23 Airbus A310-300, "Celestar" for the 17 Airbus A340-300,"Super B" for the 23 Boeing 747-200B, "Big Top" for the 14 Boeing 747-300.Fact|date=January 2008

Singapore Airlines has never painted an aircraft without its tail livery. Even special liveries such as the Tropical Megatop and the Star Alliance livery still retain the signature stylised bird on their vertical stabilizers.

Historical fleet

Since 1937, the predecessors of Singapore Airlines operated the Airspeed Consul, Boeing 707, Boeing 737, Bristol Britannia, Douglas DC-3, Douglas DC-4 Skymaster, de Havilland Comet 4, Fokker F27, Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation and the Vickers Viscount. Upon its incorporation as Singapore Airlines Limited on 28 January 1972, the airline acquired seven Boeing 707s and five Boeing 737s from MSA on 30 September 1972. [ [http://www.alpas.org/list.php?c=aviationscene Airline Pilots Association - Singapore - Aviation Landscape in Singapore ] ]

Its first purchase since incorporation was for another Boeing 707 from Continental Airlines which was delivered on 1 October 1972. The first Boeing 747-200 for the airline was delivered soon after on 31 July 1973, which also marked SIA's first direct delivery of a new aircraft. Boeing 727s were first delivered on 30 August 1977, Boeing 747-300s from 29 April 1983, and Boeing 757s from 12 November 1984. [ [http://airlinerlist.com/ airlinerlist.com ] ] The airline ordered its first aircraft from Airbus, the A300B4 in 1979, [cite press release|title= Singapore Airlines looks to the future with orders for A380 and A350 XWB |publisher= |date= 2006-07-21 |url= http://www.airbus.com/en/presscentre/pressreleases/pressreleases_items/07_21_06_singapore_airlines.html |format= |language= |accessdate= 2008-02-02 |quote= ] which joined the fleet in 1980. Other Airbus models flown include the Airbus 310 since 1984 and the Airbus 340-300 from 26 October 1996.

The airline ordered the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 on 16 January 1990, involving 5 firm orders and 15 options, to operate long-haul routes with demand deemed too thin for the Boeing 747. [ [http://md-eleven.net/Operators-The-ones-that-never-were- Operators-The ones that never were! ] ] When it was revealed that the aircraft's performance was below expectations in terms of range and fuel burn, the order was cancelled in favour of the Airbus A340-300 with 20 orders. The cancellation was seen as particularly damaging to McDonnell Douglas due to the company's reputation. [http://www.iht.com/articles/1991/08/03/air_.php McDonnell Loses Sale To Airbus - International Herald Tribune] ] Airbus in turn suffered a setback, however, when rival Boeing successfully negotiated to take SIA's existing A340-300 fleet as well as any still on order in exchange for 10 orders for the Boeing 777 in 1999, [ [http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/1999/news_release_990618a.html Boeing: Boeing Confirms Singapore Airlines Choice Of 777-200ERs] ] prompting an upset Airbus to call the move an "act of desperation" on Boeing's part. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E02EED7163DF932A35754C0A96F958260 Boeing and Airbus Battle Over Singapore Airline Sales - New York Times] ]

In 1977, and from 1979 to 1980, SIA flew a Concorde that it shared with British Airways.As depicted on the reserve of the [http://www.mas.gov.sg/currency/currency_info/notes/bird_series/Singapore_Circulation_Notes_Bird_Series__20.html 20 Dollars] banknote, Bird Series of the Singapore Currency] Concorde G-BOAD had Singapore Airlines' livery on the port side and British Airways' livery on the starboard side. It was used on the London to Singapore via Bahrain service. The service was withdrawn for financial reasons and complaints about noise from the Malaysian government. [ [http://www.concordesst.com/history/events/sia.html CONCORDE SST : Singapore Concorde Services ] ]

Current fleet by aircraft registration number

Aircraft to be delivered by registration number

Notes

References

* [http://www.singaporeair.com/saa/en_UK/content/company_info/siastory/fleet.jsp Singapore Airlines Fleet Information]
* [http://www.airbus.com/en/corporate/orders_and_deliveries/ Airbus Commercial Orders and Deliveries]

External links

* [http://www.a380.singaporeair.com/ Singapore Airlines A380 Microsite]
* [http://www.planespotters.net/Airline/Singapore-Airlines Planespotters.net - Singapore Airlines - Details and Fleet History]