Singapore Airlines launches non-stop flights to Los Angeles from Nov 2

Singapore Airlines will begin non-stop flights to Los Angeles on November 2, 2018, following the October 11 debut of direct flights to New York.

The move follows the decision by fellow Star Alliance member United Airlines to axe its own Singapore-Los Angeles flights as of October 27, 2018.

Singapore Airlines' long-legged LAX flight will be handled by the Airbus A350-900ULR – an extended range version of the A350-900 in a two-class 'all-premium' configuration with 67 business class seats (below) and 94 premium economy seats, the same as fitted on SQ's standard Airbus A350-900 jets.

Singapore Airlines' Airbus A350 business class seat

AusBT review: Singapore Airlines Airbus A350 business class

The 17 hour flight SQ38 will initially run three times a week – departing Singapore on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday – before toggling to a daily service on 9 November 2018.

But once a day isn't enough, the airline says, with an additional three flights per week as SQ36 from December 7, 2018, for a total of ten weekly A350s plying the non-stop skies between the Red Dot and La La Land.

In tandem with the launch of the direct flights to Los Angeles, Singapore Airlines will axe its daily Singapore-Seoul-Los Angeles service as of November 30 (truncating this to a Singapore-Seoul flight running four days a week as of December 1) but retain the Singapore-Tokyo-Los Angeles route.

Singapore Airlines will also swing the A350-900ULR onto its San Francisco route three days per week as of November 28 2018, complementing the current daily flight made by a standard A350-900 to boost overall non-stop services to Fog City to ten flights per week.

Qantas is also weighing up the same A350-900ULR jet for direct flights to New York, London and other destinations from 2022 as part of its ambitious 'Project Sunrise'.

However, unlike SQ's lean two-class layout,  Qantas wants its ultra-long range fleet to carry upwards of 300 passengers across four classes – with the option to include railway-like 'sleeping berths' and even dedicated exercise areas located in the cargo area beneath the main deck.

Read: Qantas wants four classes, 300+ passengers in ultra-long range jets

David Flynn

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.