Singapore Airlines A350-900 Ultra Long Range (ULR)

BACKGROUND Singapore Airlines (SIA) reclaimed the title of the longest commercial flight in the world with the relaunch of its daily non-stop service between Singapore and New York Newark on October 11 last year. At 16,700km and between 18 and 19 hours in duration, it is an epic flight. Regular readers will know that the airline used to fly the route with a four-engine A340 but stopped in 2013 in the face of high fuel prices. The new A350-900ULR aircraft is an extended-range variant of Airbus’s existing A350-900, and features the same business class seat.

I arrived at Newark Terminal B at 0800 for my 1035 departure on flight SQ21.