SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) will introduce its new Airbus A330-300 regional aircraft on routes to Australian and Japanese cities, progressively from end March next year.

The first of 19 new A330-300s will be delivered to SIA by Airbus in mid-January.

Its full entry into commercial service will occur on March 30 to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the commencement of SIA flights between the two cities. The first route will be between Singapore and Brisbane.

Existing B777 operations with Perth and Adelaide will be progressively converted to A330 by May and June respectively.

Also in June, the A330 will debut on Japan routes, with the daily service to Nagoya to be converted from B777 operations. By March 2010, the daily B777 service to Osaka will be replaced with the A330.

The A330-300 twin-engine wide-body aircraft will be configured with 285 seats in two classes - Business and Economy.

A new Business Class seat, especially designed for regional and medium-haul flights, as well as other cabin product features, will be unveiled when the aircraft is delivered in January.