Carry On: Dreamliner in Singapore, A350 XWB milestone, new Singapore cabins and more

Qatar introduces Dreamliner to Singapore
Qatar Airways will be the first to fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner from Singapore to Doha and destinations in Europe and the Americas. Flights will start on March 31 and connect with flights on the same aircraft type to London, Oslo, Stockholm, Zurich, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Jeddah, Munich, Riyadh, Delhi, Bengaluru, Dubai and Brussels. Qatar demonstrated one of its 787s at this week’s Singapore Air Show.

A350 XWB passes 1000-hour milestone
Also on display at Singapore was Airbus’ new A350 XWB flight test aircraft (MSN3). On its way Singapore, MSN3 passed the milestone of the first 1000 flight test hours for the A350 XWB programme since the first flight on June 14 last year. 2013. Overall the five A350 flight test aircraft will fly 2500 fight test hours in just over 12 months.

MSN1 and MSN3 are fitted with heavy test instrumentation and are carrying out performance and systems evaluations in extreme environmental conditions. MSN2 and MSN5 will be fitted with cabins, and will carry out the early long flights and route proving flights later this year. MSN4 will be fitted with light flight test instrumentation and will perform external noise and lightning tests, avionics development and certification testing. This aircraft will also be used to start the training for first customer pilots and maintenance teams.

Boeing delivers 1000 737 Sky Interiors
Budget carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle has taken delivery of the 1000th 737 Boeing Sky Interior, which features modern sculpted sidewalls and windows, LED lighting that enhances the sense of spaciousness and larger pivoting overhead stowage bins. Norwegian was one of the launch customers and this is the airline's 48th Next-Generation 737-800 with the new interior, making it the largest airline operating with these 737s in Europe.

Singapore upgrades cabins on Christchurch service
Singapore Airlines has introduced its retro-fitted cabin products on its Boeing 777-200ER daily service to Christchurch to Singapore. The upgraded seats and cabin interiors form part of a $77.4 million programme. Leather business class seats recline up to 125 degrees and unfolds into a 76-in full-flat bed. The same seats are fitted on the airline’s A380 and 777-300ER fleets. Economy Class passengers get 9-in personal LCD monitors and also seats found in A380s and 777-300ERs.

Emirates adds Taipei to global network
Taipei became Emirates’ newest passenger destination when flight EK366 arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport this week, inaugurating the airline's daily non-stop service from Dubai International Airport. The service is operated by a Boeing 777-300ER, equipped with eight private suites in First Class, 42 lie-flat seats in Business Class and room for 304 passengers in Economy Class. Taiwanese.