BLOC MAGAZINE WINTER 18-19

REALLY LONG-HAUL The glitz and glamour of supersonic commercial flight has become something of a distant memory, and that’s good news for everyday tourists... WORDS: Chris Williams O n October 11th 2018, flight SQ22 departed from Singapore on a record-breaking flight. Landing at 6:45pm the next day in New York City, more than 16,700 kilometer and 18 hours later, Singapore Air- lines claimed victory for the world’s longest non-stop flight. But it’s a somewhat bittersweet vic- tory for the Singapore flag carrier, who surprisingly previously oper- ated the same route from 2004 to 2013, only to cancel it due to rising fuel prices. The reopening of the route was only made possible again thanks to Air- bus and their new A350-900 ULR (ultra long range) twin-engine, fuel efficient aircraft. Compared to the older Boeing 777 series, which services the previous record holding 17.5-hour Auckland to Doha route for Qatar Airways, Airbus claim their specially modi- fied aircraft uses about 25% less fuel and can achieve 20 hour of non-stop flight time. With fuel prices strongly linked to airline’s fine profit margins, any op- portunity to use less fuel is a ‘win- win-win’. Less harmful emissions pumped into the atmosphere, great- er choice for passengers and more money for shareholders. But to make the nauseously long flight time bearable for those brave enough to board, Singapore Airlines has had to rip up the cabin design rule book. Of the 161 seats available, 67 are allocated for business class and the remaining 94 premium economy. That’s right, no economy. Compared to the 253 seat configu- ration used by the airline on other routes which operate the same air- craft, the reduced number of seating is primarily for weight reasons. But even with less passengers to share the operating costs, the fu- el-efficient aircraft design mean fares for 2018 start from just £1,229, round-trip. 48 // WWW.BLOCHOTELS.COM