Singapore Airlines First Class suites cost more than a three bed house
Singapore Airlines is vying to become the grandest airline out there and has invested in five new A380 planes - which cost £350million each
IF you've always wanted to know the truth about luxury air travel then now's your chance - and it's jaw-dropping.
Channel 4 documentary The World's Most Luxurious Airline lifts the lid on Singapore Airlines as the company gives it A380 planes a facelift.
The airline has just invested in five brand new A380 planes - which cost a whacking £350million each - so it can compete with rivals Emirates and Etihad in the luxury travel sector.
And Singapore is out to snare the crown of the world's grandest airline with its brand new first class cabins.
Alex Cameron, programme manager at Zodiac Aerospace, the company who are designing the upgraded suites says: “One of these will cost the same as a three bedroom house.”
For that price, the pricey chairs in the suites have a massage function - but there's a good chance the passenger will spend most of their time in the a separate fully-flat bed.
In addition, each suite comes with a 32-inch TV screen and a table that costs around £20,000.
There's some posh nosh to go on the fancy table - food is cooked by hand in the airline’s restaurants on the ground.
Then passengers can choose from dishes like steak and lobster thermidor when they’re in the air.
To wash it down, the airline serves Dom Perignon champagne, which costs £200 a bottle.
So it's little wonder that Gertrude Louis, a 90-year-old woman who always travels with the airline declares to the TV crew that she’d never stray.
She said: “I will not travel on any other. Because of the service, because of the clientele. Because of the comfort and the efficiency.”
The show also follows Alex Macheras, a 20-year-old travel analyst invited on board the brand new planes to test them out, who calls the suites: “Essentially a hotel room in the skies.”
While there are exacting standards for the chairs, the food and the booze - the cabin crew also have to work by strict guidelines.
One scene shows the training that flight attendants receive before they’re allowed on board.
The female members of staff must learn painstakingly how to do their hair and makeup – and the airline even has control over when they cut their hair.
There are also harsh views on how much they should weigh after having a baby.
Juat Fang Foo, cabin crew training manager for Singapore Airlines reveals: “We do have a returning mothers scheme, but of course when they come back they must be able to fit into the uniform because I think that would be the expectation of the customer.
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“If they don’t they would have to lose the weight.
“The men will be able to stay on, they don’t have to worry about putting on weight after childbirth.”
The World's Most Luxurious Airline airs tonight at 10pm on Channel 4.