Why Singapore Airlines Flies Fewer People on Purpose

When analyzing the business model of modern ultra-  lowcost carriers, the budget airlines that have fundamentally democratized and commodified  global air travel over the past two decades , the underlying mathematics are brutally simple  and entirely devoid of romance . The ultimate goal of network planners is to pack as many human  beings into a flying metal tube as is legally , physically, and aerodynamically possible .  Because their profit margins are razor thin, often amounting to just a few dollars of net  profit per passenger , financial survival relies entirely on massive, unyielding volume . Every  single inch of empty floor space represents a catastrophic loss of potential revenue . It is  an industry where executives measure success by how aggressively they can shrink seat pitch ,  thin out the upholstery to the width of a coin, remove bulky galley kitchens, lock out reclining  mechanisms , and unbundle basic amenities. all to wedge one more row of paying customers into  the back of the plane . To the budget airline, an airplane is merely a flying bus, and empty  space is the ultimate enemy . But one of the . In 2017, Singapore Airlines  announced a staggering $850 million redesign of their flagship Airbus A380 fleet . Usually  when an airline initiates a cabin retrofit and redesign of this immense magnitude , it is an  exercise in defensive densification. Engineers . Engineers and accountants huddle together to figure out a  way to shrink the bathrooms , narrow the aisles, and creatively squeeze in an extra row or two of  economy seats to maximize raw ticket sales and drive down their cost per available seat mile or  CASM over the remaining lifespan of the aircraft. . But Singapore Airlines shocked the global aviation  industry . They took their world-renowned ultra luxurious firstclass suites , a product that  already stood at the absolute pinnacle of commercial aviation , and intentionally cut the  capacity by an unbelievable 50%. The airline . The airline ruthlessly reduced the premium cabin from  12 suites down to just six . A year later,