Hands On: Singapore Airlines' New Premium Economy Seats Arrive Late, Limited, and Missing Privacy

At Singapore Airlines' New Travel Experience unveiling last Friday, the First and Business Class suites drew the crowds and required an escorted tour to enter. The Premium Economy and Economy pavilions were open to anyone who wanted to walk up and sit down. The MileLion's reviewer spent most of his hands-on time there, and came away with a mixed verdict: real upgrades, delivered late and to very few passengers.

The core problem is the aircraft. The new Premium Economy and Economy seats will be installed only on the Boeing 777-9, so their debut depends entirely on that jet. Its development has been troubled, and the delivery timeline is still uncertain. ETOPS flight testing has not yet begun. Boeing hopes to certify the aircraft early next year, with first deliveries before the end of 2027, though the reviewer notes that airlines have been disappointed before.

The seats will not appear on SIA's 34 retrofitted Airbus A350-900LHs or its 7 A350-900ULRs. Those aircraft get a limited refresh of the Premium Economy and Economy cabins, with upgraded KrisWorld systems and new upholstery. The reviewer calls that a very disappointing decision, and says that anyone flying SIA in either cabin over the next five years is unlikely to land in one of the new seats. The 777-9 order stands at 31 aircraft, with 36 Premium Economy seats each on the first variant described below.

Those 31 aircraft will come in two versions. Twelve v1 jets use Panasonic's NEXT entertainment system, introduced in 2017 and timed to the 777-9's originally expected entry into service in 2019 or 2020. SIA had already committed to it when the schedule slipped. Nineteen v2 jets will use Panasonic's Astrova, introduced in 2022, which the maker markets as the first system with 4K OLED screens and as 30% lighter than earlier ones.

The differences matter most in Economy. On v1 aircraft, passengers get USB-A ports and AC power. On v2 they gain an OLED display but lose both, leaving USB-C as the only way to charge. USB-C output is 45W on NEXT and 67W on Astrova, which Panasonic says it can push to 100W. In Premium Economy the gap is smaller: v1 has a USB-A port that v2 drops, while both keep USB-C and AC power. First and Business passengers will notice no meaningful difference. The seats at the event were v1, so v2 details remain unconfirmed.

The Premium Economy seat is made by Collins Aerospace and styled by Factorydesign. It keeps SIA's blue-grey leather and burnt orange accents, with a muted lavender-grey pillow embroidered with cream batik-style florals replacing the bright orange one. It has full-grain leather, a four-way adjustable headrest and, for the first time on every seat, an integrated extendable footrest. Pitch grows from 38 to 40 inches and recline from eight to up to nine inches. Width is 19 inches, down from 19.5 on the A380-800 and 777-300ER. Japan Airlines, EVA Air and Vietnam Airlines offer 42 inches on some aircraft.

The reviewer's biggest complaint is privacy: there is none. Seatmates can see everything you do, while Emirates and JAL are adding movable dividers and British Airways and Cathay Pacific have added head-height privacy wings. He argues privacy would best set the cabin apart from Economy without threatening Business Class demand. Controls are manual, which he accepts since electric controls remain rare. Storage includes a pocket under the screen, a 20cm by 17cm armrest compartment, and water bottle space between seats. But bulky IFE boxes under each pair of seats cut into foot and bag room. The 16-inch 4K screens, on exit rows, showed fingerprints readily and had weak anti-reflective performance.

What to watch is whether the 777-9 is certified on schedule, and what the v2 seat, with its promised smaller seat box, looks like when SIA finally shows it.