SINGAPORE – A week after receiving mixed feedback on its newly unveiled business-class seats, Singapore Airlines chief executive Goh Choon Phong said the airline would explore the possibility of making adjustments where it deemed fit.
Without elaborating on the extent of any possible changes, Goh said at SIA’s results briefing on Nov 12 that the group acknowledges the feedback it had received and would review it so that it could “further enhance” the travel experience for its customers.
SIA also elaborated on the growth strategy for loss-making Air India, in which it holds a 25.1% stake, noting that the airline is aiming to achieve profitability under new leadership and with growth opportunities emerging in the market.
The company posted $5.6 billion in revenue, 14.3% higher year on year, for the second quarter ended Sept 30. Net profit also quadrupled to $209.7 million.
Despite the strong quarter, the airline’s net profit for the first half of its financial year still fell 43.9% to $134 million, as rising jet fuel prices driven by the Middle East conflict took a toll on its performance.
Jet fuel prices were lower in the first quarter than the second quarter, said group chief financial officer JoAnn Tan, but the surge still led to a 90.3% increase in fuel costs before hedging for the first half of the financial year.
Shares of SIA closed Nov 12 at $7.25, up by more than 1%.
Here are the key takeaways from SIA’s results briefing for the first-half of its 2027 financial year:
Possible changes to the business-class seat
SIA’s long-haul business-class seats, revealed on Nov 7 alongside refreshed products across all its other cabin classes, has sparked substantial debate.
Central to the discussion were the seat’s shape and grey palette, which drew comparisons to a dental chair, and the bright yellow stripe across the backrest, which critics said strayed too far from the colours traditionally associated with the airline.
The business-class cabin was designed by BMW Group’s Designworks, one of three design studios hired by SIA to design its fleetwide overhaul for $2 billion in total.
Due to launch in the second half of 2027, the seats will be introduced progressively on 41 Airbus A350-900 long-haul and ultra-long-range (ULR) aircraft as they are retrofitted, as well as on SIA’s upcoming Boeing 777-9 planes. Deliveries of the Boeing aircraft have already been delayed by five years, and the model is still awaiting certification.
SIA has defended the seat’s design following the public outcry and now says it will consider adjustments in response to feedback. A petition on Change.org is calling for the airline to remove the yellow accents.
Asked by The Straits Times whether engaging a single agency for the entire redesign could have produced a more unified look and reduced costs, Goh said the airline’s decision was based on the different requirements of each cabin class.
“What we’ve done is to choose the most appropriate agency for the needs of that specific business class,” he said.
An SIA spokesperson added that the airline has historically hired multiple agencies for its cabin overhauls. This includes the 2017 refresh for its Airbus A380 aircraft, where one desgin studio was involved in its Suites design and another for the business-class and premium economy seats.
Design studios must comply with both US Federal Aviation Authority and European Union Aviation Safety Agency regulations before they are invited to bid.
The spokesperson added that the $2 billion investment was not a huge sum when compared with SIA’s financials.
Air India pursuing new growth opportunities
A lower share of losses from Air India helped support SIA’s earnings for the second quarter. SIA, which owns a 25.1% stake in Air India, recorded a $361.7 million share of the carrier’s losses, down from $429.5 million a year earlier.
Tan said this was mainly due to a reversal of provisions that SIA had made in previous years, and not because Air India had performed better.
In its next stage of growth, Air India will pursue opportunities within and outside of India, Goh said, adding that the airline has already taken steps to improve revenue generation and cost management under a new CEO.
Tewolde Gebremariam, who is the former CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, officially joined Air India on Oct 1.
Plans include rebalancing Air India’s hubs by shifting the bulk of its Europe- and US-bound flights from Delhi to Mumbai, as well as establishing a third hub in Bengaluru, as a result of the closure of Pakistan’s airspace impacting the airline’s operations.
Moving westbound flights to Mumbai would help to reduce fuel costs due to the shorter flight times, Goh said.
“Gebremariam has also gone out to make sure that Air India is able to beef up its capabilities to sell outside of India,” he added, noting that the airline will be looking to tap the increase in overseas demand for international travel.
There is also a big growth opportunity in the air cargo segment with significant demand in India, which Air India has yet to fully capitalise. On this front, the airline plans to convert some of its passenger aircraft into dedicated freighters.
SIA’s AI transformation
Goh also gave an update on the airline’s digital transformation, stressing that it was taking an “enterprise perspective” by looking at how changes could benefit the company as a whole.
“We haven’t seen any good example of an airline adopting an end-to-end transversal approach to the adoption of AI.
“Usually it’s quite limited to each business unit and progressing from each business unit, we feel that is not a strong enough approach because in the airline industry, all our functions are interlinked.”
According to Goh, AI solutions have been deployed in numerous facets of the business, from raising its workforce productivity to increasing customer and revenue generation. It has seen a 67% year-on-year increase in AI use cases, which have already improved areas such as its customer insights portal, crew scheduling, and cabin crew training.
Goh said the company-wide AI transformation is an ambitious project, requiring SIA to partner with leading AI companies, including ChatGPT developer OpenAI and Muse, Meta’s AI agent for agentic commerce.
“When we say collaborate, we are not talking about buying solutions but working alongside our partners and exploring what opportunities we can actually bring in with the use of these generative AI tools.”
