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Singapore Airlines Limited (Abbreviated: SIA; ; abbreviated 新航) is the national airline of Singapore, and the world's second-biggest carrier by market value. It is the leading and founding entity of the Singapore Airlines Group of companies. It has a presence in most parts of Asia and Oceania, as well as major operations in Europe and North America.

Singapore Airlines is one of only five airlines to receive a 'five-star' rating by Skytrax.

Operational members of the Singapore Airlines Group, such as its regional and wholly-owned subsidiary, Silkair, manage flights to secondary cities with smaller capacity requirements, particularly those in Southeast Asia, China and India. Since 2001, air freight operations have also been hired off to a separate subsidiary, Singapore Airlines Cargo, which took over the entire freighter fleet from SIA, as well as management of the cargo holds in passenger-cargo aircraft. A more recent addition was the low-cost carrier Tiger Airways, which marked the group's entry into the low-cost segment of the aviation industry.

Collectively, Singapore Airlines Group is the world's second largest carrier by market capitalisation, second only to Southwest Airlines of the United States. In addition, Singapore Airlines ranks amongst the top 15 airline carriers worldwide in terms of revenue passenger kilometres according to Air Transport World.

History

Early history

Singapore Airlines began with the incorporation of Malayan Airways Limited (MAL) on October 12, 1937, by the Ocean Steamship Company of Liverpool, the Straits Steamship Company of Singapore and Imperial Airways(BOAC/BA). The airline's first flight was between Kuala Lumpur and the British Straits Settlement of Singapore on 2 April 1947 using an Airspeed Consul twin-engined airplane.

MAL continued to grow during the rest of the 1940s and 1950s, as other British Commonwealth airlines (such as BOAC/BA, Qantas) provided technical assistance, as well as assistance in joining the IATA. By 1955, Malayan Airlines' fleet had grown to include a large number of Douglas DC-3s, and went public in 1957.

When Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak federated in 1963 to form the Federation of Malaysia, the airline name was similarly changed, from "Malayan Airways" to "Malaysian Airlines" (though still abbreviated to MAL). MAL also took over Borneo Airways although Brunei remained a British colony until[1984.

In 1966, following Singapore's independence from the Federation, the airline's name was changed again, to Malaysia-Singapore Airlines (MSA). The next year saw a rapid expansion in the airline's fleet and route, including the purchase of MSA's first Boeing 707s, as well the completion of a new high-rise headquarters in Singapore.

MSA ceased operations in 1972, when political disagreements between Singapore and Malaysia resulted in the formation of two new airlines: Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines. Singapore Airlines kept all 10 of MSA's Boeing 737s and 707s, and retained the international routes out of Singapore as well as the corporate headquarters in Singapore. Air hostesses continued to wear the sarong kebaya dress, which had previously been used by MSA.

Singapore Airlines actively cultivates and promotes the image of the 'Singapore Girl' in its advertising, and aggressively recruits young women who fit the image, though they do not have to be Singaporean.

Modern History

Singapore Airlines saw rapid growth during the 1970s, adding many cities in the Indian subcontinent and Asia to its 22-city network, and adding Boeing 747s to its fleet. The 1980s saw the addition of the United States, Canada, and many European cities to the airline's route map, with Madrid becoming the first and only Hispanic city to be served by Singapore Airlines. Services were extended to Africa in the 1990s, when the airline began flights to Johannesburg in South Africa. The network would eventually be expanded to include the cities of Cape Town and Durban.

During the 1990s, Singapore Airlines licenced model aeroplane companies like Schabak, Wooster plastic aeroplanes, Herpa Wings and many others, to manufacture promotional plane models for them. Their Boeing 747s became known as Megatops, and were complemented by Boeing 777s and various Airbus aircraft.

In 2004, Singapore Airlines began long-haul flights from Singapore to Los Angeles International Airport in California and Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey. This marked the first ever non-stop air service between Singapore and the United States of America, using Airbus A340-500 aircraft named "LeaderShip". The Singapore to Newark flight currently holds the record as the longest commercial flight in the history of aviation, with a flying time of approximately 18 hours between Singapore and Newark and 20 hours on the way back.

In 2005, the airline unveiled the slogan "First to fly the A380 - experience the difference in 2006", to promote itself as the world's first airline to take delivery of the A380-800 double-decker super jumbo, then expected to take place in the 2nd quarter of 2006. In early 2006, the first A380 was painted in full Singapore Airlines livery for an appearance at the Asian Aerospace Show 2006. However Airbus admitted in late 2005 that, due to unforeseen technical problems, it would delay delivery of the aircraft by up to six months, with the first delivery in Nov 2006 after the peak northern hemisphere summer travel season.*

The announcement was met with fury by SIA's CEO, Chew Choon Seng, who threatened to sue Airbus. He further claimed that SIA will be receiving the Boeing 777-300ER before the A380. Nevertheless, SIA has indicated that this would not affect its promotional campaign The first few aircraft will be used on the Singapore to London, and Singapore to Sydney routes. On 14 June 2006, Singapore Airlines placed an initial order for the Boeing 787 as part of its future aircraft expansion. * Chief Executive Chew Choon Seng of Singapore Airlines has shown interest in the Boeing 747-8 which will be a larger and more efficient version of the current Boeing 747-400.

Incidents

  • On 26 March 1991, Flight 117, on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore, was hijacked in mid-flight by four Pakistanis who demanded that the plane be flown to Sydney. The crisis ended at Singapore Changi Airport, where all four were killed by members of the Singapore Special Operations Force. None of the 123 passengers and crew suffered injuries.

  • On 31 October 2000, Flight 006, a Boeing 747-400 flying on a Singapore to Los Angeles via Taipei route collided into construction equipment on a runway during takeoff from Chiang Kai Shek International Airport, and was destroyed by both the collision and post-impact fires, killing 79 passengers and 3 crew members. The accident prompted the airline to change the flight number of this route from 006 to 030 and to remove the "Tropical Megatop" livery on the accident aircraft's sister ship.

  • On 25 June 2006 , a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-200ER operating SQ229 to Adelaide Airport had its passengers and crew quarantined after a yellow powder was found on some of the passengers' bags. The powder was later found to be harmless.

The airline was Asia's first and the world's third airline to be accredited by IATA with the IOSA (IATA Operations Safety Audit).

Service and innovation

Early on, Singapore Airlines became the first airline to offer free headsets and drinks. Its service quality has made it the world's most awarded airline to date.

In 2005, it was one of the earliest to introduce high-speed, in-flight internet service in March by installing the Connexion by Boeing system, and became the first airline in the world to offer live international television broadcasts using the same system from June In the same month, one can take up free language lessons using Berlitz Word Traveler's interactive language learning programme, with 11 languages offered, and subsequently increased to 22 by November *.

Subsidiaries and Alliances

Singapore Airlines is a member of the Star Alliance, which it joined in April 2000. Since 30 March 2000, it has owned a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic Airways. The airline owns a similar 49% stake in Tiger Airways, a low-cost carrier flying from Singapore which it founded in September 2004 with Indigo Partners LLC, the investment firm founded by Bill Franke, (24%); Irelandia Investments Limited, the private investment arm of Tony Ryan and his family, (16%); and Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd (11%). Silkair is a wholly-owned subsidiary serving new destinations in Asia and regional connections using Singapore as a hub.

Singapore Airlines purchased 25% of Air New Zealand during 2000. However following the near collapse of Air New Zealand the New Zealand government bought into the airline to rescue it from bankruptcy, reducing SIA's stake to 4.5%. This was subsequently sold in October 2004.

The Singapore Airlines Group has over 50 subsidiaries and associates, including:

Code Sharing

The airline has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

Singapore Airlines Cargo also code-shares with Japan Airlines Cargo and Scandinavian Airlines System Cargo, all being members of the WOW Alliance.

Fleet

Singapore Airlines operates one of the youngest fleets in Asia. Its fleet features aircraft from just 3 aircraft families: the Boeing 747, the Boeing 777, and the Airbus A340.

The airline has a history of naming its fleet according to plane makes. The Boeing 747-400s are dubbed "Megatop", while the Boeing 777s are called "Jubilee". The Airbus A340-500s were named "Leadership," but that has since been dropped. Names for airliners previously flown by the airline includes "Superbus" for the 8 Airbus A300, "3TEN" for the 23 Airbus A310-300, "Celestar" for the 17 Airbus A340-300,"Super B" for the 23 Boeing 747-200B, "Big Top" for the 14 Boeing 747-300.

Singapore Airlines flew, for a short period of time, a Concorde that it shared with British Airways. The plane had Singapore Airlines' livery on one side, and British Airways' logo on the other.

It is the launch customer for the Airbus A380-800, and will be the first airline in the world to operate it when it comes into service before Christmas in 2006. It has 10 of these aircraft on order and options on a further 15 aircraft. It plans to introduce it on its Kangaroo route services from Sydney to London via its base at Changi Airport (ref: Airliner World, March 2005), though, after a new 6 month delay that was announced by Airbus seems to have put off the entry into service date to 2007. *

On 14 June 2006, Singapore Airlines announced it has signed a LOI Letter of Intent to order 20 Boeing 787-9. Delivery of the aircraft is scheduled from early 2011 to mid-2013. It is also taking purchase rights for an additional 20 Boeing 787 aircraft.

Current fleet by aircraft size (as of June, 2006)

Aircraft # Seats Notes
Airbus A340-5415181 (J64/Y117)Ultra long haul
Airbus A380-841(10 on order) Long haul
Boeing 747-41227372 (P12/J50/Y310)
375 (P12/J50/Y313)		Long haul
Boeing 777-212ER46332 (P18/J49/Y265)
323 (J30/Y293)
288 (P12/J42/Y234)		Long & Medium haul
Boeing 777-31212332 (P18/J49/Y265)Medium haul
Boeing 777-312ER(19 on order) Long haul
Boeing 787-912(20 on order) Long haul

The average age of the fleet of Singapore Airlines is 6.1 years as of April 2006.

Notes

  • Singapore Airlines operates the world's longest nonstop flight (SQ21 and 22). It uses an A340-500 that flies from Singapore's Changi International Airport to New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport. The aircraft, which have a special seat configuration on 181 passengers, have its own 'Executive Economy class' and Raffles Class. When flying from Singapore to New Jersey, the plane flies via the North Pole, and it crosses the Arctic Ocean. The approximate length of this route is 8285nm/15345km.

  • All of Singapore Airlines' 777-212s are the Extended Range (ER) models; featuring centre fuel tanks for maximum storage. The airline however chooses to only refer to the 9V-SV* registered series of aircraft as 777-200ERs as those planes are certified to 656,000 lb (298,000 kg) Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) and fly the longer intercontinental routes. The 9V-SR* and 9V-SQ* registered aircraft feature derated engines which can be electronically reprogrammed to produce more thrust and thus operate longer flights at higher MTOWs if ever needed.

  • 6 of the Boeing 747-400s were withdrawn from regular operation since the SARS crisis in the year 2003. Another 2 will be withdrawn later, and all 8 will be sold to two airlines from the year 2006 to 2008, after being converted into freighters. There is a possibility they may be transferred to Singapore Airlines Cargo, as an addition to its existing 14 B747-412Fs (dubbed "MegaArk"s).

  • In August 2004, the airline decided to order 18 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, and the order was signed on 23 December 2004, during which an unused option for Boeing 777 family was converted into an additional order for Boeing 777-300ER.

  • Its A340 aircraft are equipped with special cupboards big enough to take a corpse in case any passengers die en route. This has since been taken off after an SQ pilot took a photo of it and posted it on the internet. The pilot was later said to have been fired from the company *

  • British Airways, for a short period of time, flew a Concorde (registered ) that had Singapore Airlines' livery on one side, and British Airways' logo on the other. The aircraft was operated by BA pilots, and staffed with flight attendants from both airlines, flying between Singapore and London via Bahrain.

  • Singapore Airlines is currently the largest Boeing 777 operator in the world with 58 in service, 6 more than the next largest operator and Star Alliance partner, United Airlines. The airline has 32 more on order or on options.

  • Singapore Airlines has an in-flight entertainment system, KrisWorld, which screens the latest movies and includes Nintendo games. Each seat has it own personal television.
Krisworld has recently been upgraded in all classes to feature On-demand video and audio, where each user can select any particular film or television programme from the considerably large inflight library at any time, and can pause, rewind and fast forward through it from their in seat video controller and personal screen. (Previously all airline inflight entertainment was limited to either a single large screen playing a film for the entire cabin, or users given a selection of channels that would all start and end simultaneously, usually soon after take off, with no control given to the user).

  • Singapore Airlines is known in the industry as being the first to launch new in-flight entertainment features, such as Nintendo or movies on demand. Their primary in-flight entertainment supplier is Panasonic Avionics Corporation

  • Their First Class Skysuites have 14-inch televisions and Business class (Raffles Class) seats are called Spacebeds with 180° recline.

  • Starting in 2005, Singapore Airlines will begin integrating wireless broadband for all classes on selected flights. As of August 2005, this facility is only available on flights to London and New York.

Flight Numbers

Generally, flight numbers are allocated according to geographical regions:

Destinations

Events in 2005

  • On 1 June 2005, flights to Beijing were increased to 3 times daily. The airline also added flights to Mumbai, increasing them to twice daily.

  • Attempts to fly the trans-Pacific route between Sydney and Los Angeles were put on hold indefinitely after the Australian government said that it needed more time to make a decision.

  • CEO Chew Choon Seng was reportedly "furious" with Airbus over its delays in delivering the A380 airliner and was said to be considering a suit for damages. He told a German weekly Focus On Saturday in an interview that the A380 would not be delivered until November 2006. He said that the aging 747-400s would have to be kept flying longer and that the delays had "greatly upset our forecasts with regard to capacity", additionally causing disruptions in training flight crew and engineers. A clause in the sales contract allows SIA to seek damages for late delivery. The company will now focus on delivery of 19 Boeing 777-300ER since the 777 will be delivered earlier than the Airbus aircraft.
SIA is in talks with Airbus for compensation over the delays of delivering the A380. The airline's Vice-President for Public Affairs said that this was the best option, yet would not rule out a lawsuit against Airbus. SIA is not giving any details but earlier reports have said that it was seeking more than US$6 million in compensation. One of the issues that SIA will face is how to handle higher passenger loads during the affected period. The airline may have to extend the lease of its 747s until the arrival of the A380.

  • On August 152005, Virgin Atlantic, which flies the Kangaroo route between Australia and the UK via Hong Kong, denied it was in talks with part owner Singapore Airlines about extending its code sharing arrangements from Singapore to Sydney. Virgin Atlantic, 49% owned by Singapore Airlines, began flying between Sydney and the UK via Hong Kong in December. The London-Heathrow to Hong Kong route is generally doing well but not the Hong Kong-Sydney sector.

  • On November 24 2005, Singapore Airlines decided to return to Pakistan after a three year hiatus. The airline discontinued flying to Pakistan due to "security problems" in Karachi. The airline withdrew service from Pakistan on the 10 May 2002. However after a recent visit with the Prime Minister of Pakistan in Singapore, the airline decided to reopen the route with a three times weekly service to Karachi and Lahore. Flights are expected to begin on February 1 2006. Mr Huang Cheng Eng, Singapore Airlines’ Executive Vice President Marketing and the Regions said "Singapore Airlines is confident that our flights to Karachi and Lahore will facilitate the growth of trade, investments and tourism between Singapore and Pakistan. In addition, we believe that the inclusion of Pakistan to our extensive route network further enhances Pakistan’s linkage to the rest of the world."

Events in 2006

  • At a Cabinet meeting on February 22, 2006, the Australian government decided not to grant fifth freedom rights to Singapore Airlines on flights from Australia to the United States. Singapore Airlines had argued that transpacific flights from Australia suffered from under-capacity, leading to limited competition and relatively high air fares.

  • On 14 June 2006, Singapore Airlines placed an initial order for the Boeing 787 as part of its future aircraft expansion. * The order consisted of 20 787-9s and rights for 20 more. This order comes just one day after Airbus announced that the A380 superjumbo would be delayed by another 6 months.

External links

Resources

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Singapore Airlines".

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