{"version":"1.9","identifier":"66f1cf5d-235e-4b83-8967-16c0d4cb4b67","language":"en-US","title":"Singapore Airlines defends its gray-and-yellow business class. Its designer calls it \"a suit with a sneaker\"","layout":{"columns":7,"width":1024,"margin":32,"gutter":20},"componentLayouts":{"text":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"maximumContentWidth":720,"margin":{"top":12,"bottom":12}},"photo":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"margin":{"top":20,"bottom":20}}},"componentTextStyles":{"default":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"textColor":"#171717"},"headline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue-Bold","fontSize":36,"lineHeight":42,"conditional":[{"conditions":{"maxViewportWidth":480},"fontSize":28,"lineHeight":34}]},"intro":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":20,"lineHeight":28,"textColor":"#555555"},"caption":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":19,"textColor":"#666666"},"byline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":20,"textColor":"#666666"},"body":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"paragraphSpacingAfter":14,"linkStyle":{"textColor":"#00704a"}}},"metadata":{"canonicalURL":"https://www.loungefrog.com/news/singapore-airlines-defends-gray-yellow-business-class-suit-with-sneaker","datePublished":"2026-11-09T17:59:41.921631Z","dateModified":"2026-11-09T17:59:57.202906Z","authors":["Lounge Frog Editorial"],"excerpt":"After three days of online backlash, the airline says it doesn't stick to one color scheme, and BMW's design studio says the palette was deliberate.","thumbnailURL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/66f1cf5d-235e-4b83-8967-16c0d4cb4b67/59202d322e72c94460d7012a68b9fd50.jpg","keywords":["airline"],"generatorName":"Frog News","generatorVersion":"1.0"},"components":[{"role":"title","text":"Singapore Airlines defends its gray-and-yellow business class. Its designer calls it \"a suit with a sneaker\"","textStyle":"headline","layout":"text"},{"role":"intro","text":"After three days of online backlash, the airline says it doesn't stick to one color scheme, and BMW's design studio says the palette was deliberate.","textStyle":"intro","layout":"text"},{"role":"byline","text":"By Lounge Frog Editorial · Published November 9, 2026","textStyle":"byline","layout":"text"},{"role":"photo","URL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/66f1cf5d-235e-4b83-8967-16c0d4cb4b67/59202d322e72c94460d7012a68b9fd50.jpg","caption":"Official rendering of Singapore Airlines' new business class seat, with gray leather and yellow trim. · Singapore Airlines, via RECARO Aircraft Seating","accessibilityCaption":"Official rendering of Singapore Airlines' new business class seat, with gray leather and yellow trim.","layout":"photo"},{"role":"caption","text":"Official rendering of Singapore Airlines' new business class seat, with gray leather and yellow trim. · Singapore Airlines, via RECARO Aircraft Seating","textStyle":"caption","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"Singapore Airlines is not apologizing for its new business class colors. After three days of online criticism of the seat's mineral gray leather and bright yellow trim, the airline and the BMW-owned studio that designed it both defended the look as a deliberate choice, in comments reported by *The Sydney Morning Herald*. Designworks CEO Julia de Bono compared it to \"a suit with a sneaker.\" Singapore Airlines said it does not follow a fixed color palette across its cabins. [The Sydney Morning Herald, Nov. 9](https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/make-it-ugly-business-class-beef-over-seats-goes-viral-20261109-p61clk.html)\n\nThe airline has not said it will change anything. The seats are due to start flying in the second half of 2027. [Singapore Airlines' launch announcement](https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/ch/corporate/newsroom/press-release/2026/oct-to-dec-2026/Next_generation_Long_Haul_cabin_products/)\n\n## What Singapore Airlines and its designer said\n\nOng Wah Li, the airline's vice president of product experience, told the *Herald* the seat was meant to offer \"a fresh and contemporary take on premium travel.\" Ong said the airline's \"signature warm and classic aesthetic has served us well over the years,\" but that \"we wanted this new product to have its own character.\" The airline also said it does not keep one fixed color scheme for every cabin.\n\nDe Bono, whose firm is part of the BMW Group, went further. She said \"the palette was deliberate.\" She said the warmer look had \"served the airline for a long time, and many of the cabins are going warm and more traditional right now.\" Her studio wanted this business class \"to stand on its own.\" She told journalists the goal was a cabin that felt \"high-tech, luxurious, and future-forward,\" and that mineral grays \"are really having this balance and stable feel to them.\" [The Sydney Morning Herald](https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/make-it-ugly-business-class-beef-over-seats-goes-viral-20261109-p61clk.html)\n\nIn other words, the break from the old look was the point. Singapore Airlines' own release says each cabin \"has been designed individually.\" It hired a different design firm for almost every class. [Singapore Airlines](https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/ch/corporate/newsroom/press-release/2026/oct-to-dec-2026/Next_generation_Long_Haul_cabin_products/)","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"},{"role":"htmltable","html":"
CabinDesign firmSeat makerLook
FirstPriestmanGoodeCollins AerospaceBatik motif panels
BusinessDesignworksRECAROMineral gray, yellow trim
Premium economyFactorydesignCollins AerospaceGray-blue, orange accents
EconomyFactorydesignCollins AerospaceBlue, gray trim
","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"The firms and seat makers come from the airline's [launch release](https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/ch/corporate/newsroom/press-release/2026/oct-to-dec-2026/Next_generation_Long_Haul_cabin_products/). The batik detail in first class comes from the airline's [technical notes](https://www.singaporeair.com/content/dam/sia/web-assets/pdfs/Press_Release/ne1926AnnexeAtoD.pdf). The colors for business, premium economy and economy are as described by the [*Herald*](https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/make-it-ugly-business-class-beef-over-seats-goes-viral-20261109-p61clk.html), which saw the cabins at the launch in Singapore.\n\n## Why critics say the colors miss\n\nThe complaint is about brand, not comfort. Critics told the *Herald* the airline had swapped its familiar deep blues, golds and oranges for a palette that does not look like Singapore Airlines. One Singapore-based marketing executive said it made the airline \"look like they are having an identity crisis.\" Author Kean Wong called the airline \"one of the state's key talismans.\" He said the bright yellow had a \"budget streak,\" a nod to Scoot, the airline group's low-cost carrier. [The Sydney Morning Herald](https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/make-it-ugly-business-class-beef-over-seats-goes-viral-20261109-p61clk.html)\n\nThe most-viewed reaction we found on X came from the account @abigbluebird. It said the palette was \"a friendly reminder that you're still very much at work.\" It asked how much of the $2 billion went to \"useless consultants,\" and went on to argue that the airline's premium fares are hard to justify. X shows the post at about 338,000 views and more than 780 likes. One fact check: the airline's figure is more than S$2 billion, in Singapore dollars, and it covers new seats in all four cabins, not business class alone.\n\n\n\nOther flyers took the complaint straight to the airline. Replying to Singapore Airlines' own launch post, a user who calls himself a longtime business class flyer described the cabin as a sea of cold gray. He said he is \"no longer excited to fly this.\" His post also says the designer claimed this is what customers asked for. We found no statement from the airline or its designer saying customers asked for gray. The airline does say it shaped the new cabins with research involving more than 5,000 frequent travelers, customers, staff and industry experts.\n\n\n\n## The case for the gray\n\nNot everyone thinks this matters. Shukor Yusof, founder of the Singapore consultancy Endau Analytics, told the *Herald* the reaction had been \"mixed.\" He said the seats \"may be rather bland to some, but I suspect it won't hurt the bottom line at all.\" [The Sydney Morning Herald](https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/make-it-ugly-business-class-beef-over-seats-goes-viral-20261109-p61clk.html)\n\nThe aviation news site Runway Girl Network made a practical argument on X. It said the gray works \"almost like a blank canvas\" for the colored mood lighting that modern jets use for boarding, meals and sleep. Its post includes a version of the airline's rendering with a sunrise lighting effect added by Google's Gemini AI tool. That picture is an illustration, not what the cabin will look like.\n\n\n\nThe seat itself has drawn far less criticism. Even the *Herald* report says it \"appears slick and functional.\" The new seat adds sliding doors, a 79-inch flat bed and a footwell that lets you move your feet while you sleep. Selected center seats can also be set up as companion beds. [Singapore Airlines' technical notes](https://www.singaporeair.com/content/dam/sia/web-assets/pdfs/Press_Release/ne1926AnnexeAtoD.pdf)\n\n## Where and when you will see it\n\nNone of the debate changes the schedule. The seats will go on 41 retrofitted Airbus A350-900 long-haul and ultra-long-range jets and on the new Boeing 777-9 fleet, from the second half of 2027. [Singapore Airlines](https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/ch/corporate/newsroom/press-release/2026/oct-to-dec-2026/Next_generation_Long_Haul_cabin_products/)","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"},{"role":"htmltable","html":"
AircraftBusiness seatsSeat widthScreen
Boeing 777-95424 in20 in
A350-900 long-haul4222 in22 in
A350-900ULR7022 in22 in
","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"Seat counts, widths and screen sizes are from the airline's [technical notes](https://www.singaporeair.com/content/dam/sia/web-assets/pdfs/Press_Release/ne1926AnnexeAtoD.pdf). The airline has not said which routes get the new cabin first.\n\n**How the business class color debate unfolded**\n\n* **2026-11-06**: Singapore Airlines unveils new seats for all four cabins\n* **2026-11-06**: Critics on X compare the business class trim to budget airlines\n* **2026-11-09**: The airline and Designworks defend the palette in the Sydney Morning Herald\n* **2027**: The new seats begin to enter service in the second half of the year\n\nSource: [Singapore Airlines](https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/ch/corporate/newsroom/press-release/2026/oct-to-dec-2026/Next_generation_Long_Haul_cabin_products/), [The Sydney Morning Herald](https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/make-it-ugly-business-class-beef-over-seats-goes-viral-20261109-p61clk.html)\n\n## What it means if you are booking\n\nFor now, nothing. No one can book the new seat yet, and the airline's current business class keeps flying until each jet is refitted. If the colors bother you, the airline's answer so far has been to defend them, not to promise changes. If you care more about the bed, the doors and the screen, the hardware has drawn far fewer complaints than the colors.\n\nFor a closer look at the backlash and the Scoot comparison, see [our earlier story](https://www.loungefrog.com/news/singapore-airlines-business-class-scoot-spirit-yellow-trim). For how the A350 and 777-9 versions differ, see [our seat comparison](https://www.loungefrog.com/news/singapore-airlines-business-class-yellow-trim-two-seat-versions).","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"}]}