Singapore Airlines said all seats on its Airbus SE A380 jetliner pop-up restaurants were reserved within 30 minutes of bookings opening Monday. The tarmac meals have become an unlikely hit for the coronavirus-battered airlines, with hundreds of "passengers" paying the equivalent of a budget ticket just to dine inside grounded A380 jumbos.
With flights largely grounded by the coronavirus pandemic, Singapore Airlines is trying novel ways to raise money, including using two of the superjumbos parked at Changi Airport as temporary eateries.
A meal in a suite costs S$642 ($474), while seats in business class are going for S$321, dropping to S$96.30 for premium economy and S$53.50 for economy. Customers can also pay with frequent-flyer miles.
After all 900 seats for lunch on the initial dates of October 24 and 25 sold out, Singapore Airlines said it will extend the offer for a further two days the following weekend and also add a dinner option on all four days. With the aviation industry in deep crisis due to the pandemic, airlines have turned to alternative ways to raise cash, from offering "flights to nowhere" to tours of aircraft.
Singapore Airlines, which has cut thousands of jobs and grounded nearly all its planes this year, decided to try another route: offer travel-starved customers the opportunity to dine on one of two A380s turned into pop-up restaurants.
About half the seats in each aircraft will be used for dining, in line with restaurant guidelines on group limits and distancing, the carrier said in a statement. In normal flying service, the carrier’s A380s can seat as many as 471 people, according to its website. Singapore Airlines is also offering home deliveries of plane meals.
