Singapore Airlines Fleet - Historical Fleet

Historical Fleet

Since 1937, the predecessors of Singapore Airlines operated the Airspeed Consul, Boeing 707, Boeing 737, Bristol Britannia, Douglas DC-3, Douglas DC-4 Skymaster, de Havilland Comet 4, Fokker F27, Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation and the Vickers Viscount.Upon its incorporation as Singapore Airlines Limited on 28 January 1972, the airline acquired seven Boeing 707s and five Boeing 737s from MSA on 30 September 1972.

Its first purchase since incorporation was for another Boeing 707 from Continental Airlines which was delivered on 1 October 1972. The first Boeing 747-200 for the airline was delivered soon after on 31 July 1973, which also marked SIA's first direct delivery of a new aircraft. Boeing 727s were first delivered on 30 August 1977, Boeing 747-300s from 29 April 1983, and Boeing 757s from 12 November 1984. The airline ordered its first aircraft from Airbus, the A300B4 in 1979, which joined the fleet in 1980. Other Airbus models flown include the Airbus 310 since 1984 and the Airbus 340-300 from 26 October 1996.

The airline ordered the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 on 16 January 1990, involving 5 firm orders and 15 options, to operate long-haul routes with demand deemed too thin for the Boeing 747. When it was revealed that the aircraft's performance was below expectations in terms of range and fuel burn, the order was cancelled in favour of the Airbus A340-300 with 20 orders. The cancellation was seen as particularly damaging to McDonnell Douglas due to the company's reputation. Airbus in turn suffered a setback, however, when rival Boeing successfully negotiated to take SIA's existing A340-300 fleet as well as any still on order in exchange for 10 orders for the Boeing 777 in 1999, prompting an upset Airbus to call the move an "act of desperation" on Boeing's part.

In 1977, and from 1979 to 1980, SIA flew a Concorde that it shared with British Airways. Concorde G-BOAD had Singapore Airlines' livery on the port side and British Airways' livery on the starboard side. It was used on the London to Singapore via Bahrain service. The service was withdrawn for financial reasons and complaints about noise from the Malaysian government.

On April 6, 2012, Singapore Airlines retired its last Boeing 747-400, 9V-SPQ, which was the last Boeing 747 delivered to the airline. A pair of commemorative flights, SQ 747 and SQ 748, were scheduled to fly from Singapore to Hong Kong and back. Farewell ceremonies were organized at both airports. The retirement of the 747 marked the end of 39 years of 747 service (from 1973) for the airline (starting with the -200B), as well as the end of 23 years of Boeing 747-400 service (from 1989, when Singapore Airlines operated the world's first international 747-400 service with 9V-SMA and 9V-SMB).