SINGAPORE - SIA's first new Airbus 380 touched down at Changi Airport at 9.50am on Thursday (Dec 14) morning from Toulouse, France, ready for deployment on the Singapore-Sydney route from Dec 18.

The double-decker jumbo jet is kitted out with SIA's new Suites and Business Class cabins. It will operate the flight numbers SQ221 and SQ232.

SIA still has four other A-380s on order. Its existing A-380s will eventually be retrofitted with the new products.

Amid heightened competition, the airline is investing US$850 million (S$1.1 billion) to overhaul its fleet of 19 A-380s with the new products. The refreshed cabins will be available across the entire A-380 fleet by 2020.

The last time SIA updated its Business and Economy seats was in 2013, but this is the first refresh of its Suites, which was launched 10 years ago when SIA took delivery of the first A-380 jet as the launch customer.

Unlike the older A-380s, the new Suites will have only six cabins, but the size of each cabin has been ramped up from 30 sq ft to 50 sq ft. With sliding doors for privacy, the suite also comes with a separate bed alongside a leather-upholstered seat, as well as a 32-inch (81 cm) high-definition touch screen.

Over in Business class, a carbon fibre composite shell for the seat creates a thinner base structure for better use of space and delivers more under-seat stowage space. However, the seat pitch has come down from 55 inches to 50 inches, and the seat width from 34 inches to 25 inches.