Norwegian Air's flying an A380 with Singapore Suites again
We're always on the lookout for Hi Fly's A380. That's because that particular A380 aircraft was originally owned by Singapore Airlines, which means it's still equipped with Singapore Suites in first class. Hi Fly contracts out the plane on a "wet lease" basis — meaning both the plane and crew are from Hi Fly — so it can pop up pretty much anywhere in the world on behalf of almost any carrier.
But right now, you can catch a ride on this Airbus giant between New York (JFK) and Paris (CDG), as the plane is once again being leased for operations by Norwegian to service the route on certain days. It's already been seen flying between these city pairs a lot recently, according to FlightRadar24, and is currently slated to make the run several times over the next several days through Sept. 10.
However, the odds of your flight departing on time doesn't look great — the flight data shows routine delays of several hours, which is similar to how things went when Norwegian flew Hi Fly's A380 between JFK and London (LGW) last year. Ticket prices to catch a ride on this A380 aren't exactly what we would call a deal either, with basic economy for the next scheduled round trip starting around $800.
If you want a chance at sitting in an old Singapore Suite, you'll need to purchase a premium economy ticket. The cheapest option showing the A380 right now is the one-way starting in Paris on Sept. 10, which will only cost $813 to make it to New York.
The bad news is even if you book a premium economy ticket, you likely won't be guaranteed a suite. Norwegian normally randomly assigns 12 premium economy passengers to the 12 suites onboard, with the rest of the cabin going into the 60 lie flat business class seats.
Also, don't expect anywhere near the full Singapore Suites experience on this flight. TPG's Benji Stawski reviewed the Hi Fly A380 when it was operating on Norwegian's JFK-LGW route last year and reported that "the soft product isn't any different from normal Norwegian flights... The crew was a mixed bag, but the food was consistently bad."
But if the Hi Fly A380 is on your bucket list, this could be a good time to catch a ride. Just don't plan on it being the ultimate in first class luxury.