Back in Nov 2017, Singapore Airlines announced that it had selected Airbus to provide retrofit services for its existing 14 A380s to feature the latest cabin products. As of now, only the 5 newly delivered A380 aircraft feature these cabin products, with the remaining 14 aircraft featuring products introduced to the fleet in 2007.
Together with this announcement, Singapore Airlines mentioned that the retrofit programme will start at the end of 2018, with the completion date slated for end-2020. As of now, none of the older aircraft has commenced with the retrofit programme. Unless we start seeing these aircraft being pulled out of service for the retrofit, we may expect to see some minor delays downstream. Let’s hope this doesn’t happen.
As of now, Saver award space for Suites on the new aircraft is very limited, and you can count yourself lucky if you manage to get your hands on one. In fact back in 2007 when Singapore Airlines first introduced the Suites, the situation was very similar with Saver award availability hovering close to none. However as the fleet aged, the airline progressively opened up Saver award availability for its Suites. The possible implication for a delayed retrofit programme would mean that we might see the progressive relaxing of Saver award space for the latest Suites being pushed back slightly as well.
But not all hope is lost, particularly if you have loads of miles to splurge, as you can find Advantage award space on the new Suites on selected routes.