SilkAir being blended in to Singapore Airlines.

For more than 30 years, SilkAir has been the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, flying to cover 40 destinations in Asia Pacific, often chosen for its service reliability and its promise to make every journey a joy to fly.

From 28 January 2021, SilkAir will start it’s integration into Singapore Airlines – part of a planned merger that was first announced in 2018. SilkAir’s aircraft will progressively join the Singapore Airlines fleet with a freshly painted livery, newly upholstered seats and served by Singapore Airlines cabin crew.

 

With this move, passengers can look forward to delicious in-flight meals created by Singapore Airlines team of chefs, which feature a great variety of dishes on rotation. Singapore Airlines Book the Cook service is also available on selected flights when travelling on Business Class.

 

Regardless of your cabin class, you'll be able to pair your meals with a glass of wine curated by the world’s leading experts.

 

If you are a Star Alliance Gold member, you'll now be able to access the lounge and enjoy other Star Alliance benefits and privileges, even when flying in Economy Class.

Recommended for you...

Singapore Airlines To Begin Non-Stop Services to New York’s JFK International Airport

Singapore Airlines (SIA) will return to New York on 9 November 2020, when it launches non-stop flights between Singapore and John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Operating to JFK International Airport would allow Singapore Airlines to better accommodate a mix of passenger and cargo traffic on its services to New York in the current operating climate. SIA’s non-stop services to New York would also be supported by the growing number of transfer passengers who can now transit via Singapore’s Changi Airport.

SIA also anticipates significant cargo demand from a range of industries based in the New York metro area, including pharmaceuticals, e-commerce and technology firms. The new service will provide the only non-stop air cargo link from the U.S. Northeast to Singapore, which serves as a regional distribution hub for many major U.S.-based companies.

Singapore Airlines And Temasek Foundation Partner To Support World Food Programme And The Global Covid-19 Response

.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) and the Temasek Foundation are partnering with the World Food Programme (WFP) to support the global Covid-19 response to help transport essential medical supplies and other health and humanitarian items by air to points of need around the world.

Providing the logistics backbone for global Covid-19 efforts, WFP operates a network of hubs and passenger and cargo airlinks to ensure a steady flow of supplies and support to the frontlines of the pandemic. Since these services commenced in May, WFP has managed more than 800 humanitarian flights to 159 countries, with enough cargo to fill 188 jumbo jets expected to require WFP transport in the coming weeks.

Singapore Airlines Raises Additional S$750 Million From Secured Financing

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has announced this week that the Company has successfully raised an additional S$750 million through long term loans secured on some of its Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 787-10 aircraft.

With the completion of these transactions, SIA has now raised a total of S$1.65 billion from secured financing since the start of financial year 2020/2021.

The total liquidity raised during the same period now stands at approximately S$11 billion. This comprises S$8.8 billion from SIA’s successful rights issue, S$1.65 billion from secured financing, and more than S$500 million from new committed lines of credit and a short-term unsecured loan from financial institutions.

Separately, all existing committed lines of credit that were due to mature during the course of 2020 have been renewed until 2021 or later. Together with the new committed lines of credit, this ensures continued access to more than S$2.1 billion in committed liquidity.

For the period up to July 2021, the Company also retains the option to raise up to S$6.2 billion in additional mandatory convertible bonds that would provide further liquidity if necessary.

During this period of high uncertainty, SIA will continue to explore additional means to shore up liquidity as necessary.

Recommended for you...

Safe to fly with Singapore Airlines as carrier refines services levels

Singapore Airlines is constantly refining its service levels during the aftermath and recovery period of the current Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. Whilst many people can still not travel due to certain regional and national travel bans and restrictions,  the carrier has released details of the measure sit is taking to keep passengers safe, both onboard the aircraft and that the airport. "We work to create the highest standards of safety and care not only in the skies but throughout your journey with us. Here are some of the key measures that we have already taken to keep you safe." Singapore Airlines states. -

Singapore Airlines and SilkAir customers planning to transit through Singapore

Singapore Airlines and SilkAir customers planning to transit through Singapore

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has announced that travellers will gradually be allowed to transit through Singapore’s Changi Airport from 2 June 2020. Singapore Airlines will announce its plans for these transfer lanes when they have been finalised. Please note that until then, Singapore Airlines customers will not be able to transit through Changi Airport.

Singapore Airlines and SilkAir Flight Schedules from May to June 2020 as 1000 cabin crew volunteer to help frontline heros

Singapore Airlines and SilkAir Flight Schedules from May to June 2020

Singapore Airlines and SilkAir will operate a much-reduced schedule of services from May to June 2020. 

Find more details here of the latest services for each region.

• Southeast Asia
• North Asia
• South West Pacific
• Europe
• United States

All flights are subject to regulatory approvals.

Please note that all other flights that had been scheduled from May to June 2020 will be cancelled.

Read on to see how some Singapore Airlines cabin crew are helping 

Goh Choon Phong's letter to Singapore Airlines customers

Goh Choon Phong the CEO, Singapore Airlines has sent a letter to all of the airline's customers regarding the ongoing coronavirus COVID-19 crisis. 

Photo SIA

Dear Valued Customer,

I hope you and your loved ones are well in these extraordinary times. Few, if any, of us could have imagined a global pandemic like this as country after country bans international travel due to a viral outbreak. While the measures to contain Covid-19 have been taken from a public health perspective, they have crippled the airline industry and presented us at Singapore Airlines with the greatest challenge in our history. Our customers and staff always remain our top-priority. That principle guided many of our decisions over the last two months as we responded to the increasingly global scale of the outbreak, as well as the growing number of border closures that have decimated air travel. We know that you trust us to deliver a safe flying experience and ground environment. That is why we modified our in-flight service to reduce the risks to our customers and crew while in the air, and stepped up our cleaning and disinfection procedures both in the aircraft and our ground facilities such as the SilverKris lounges.

Singapore Airlines to get $13 billion rescue package

A massive rescue package for Singapore Airlines

It's being reported that Singapore State investor Temasek Holdings along with other investors have agreed on a massive rescue package of around S$19 billion / US$13.27 billion for the national carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA).

SIA shares plunged by more than 10% on the news of this massive financing plan on Friday, which is indicative of the current climate of uncertainty in the global aviation sector.  The S$5.3 billion equity and up to S$9.7 billion convertible note portions of the Singapore Airlines fundraising are being underwritten by Temasek, which owns about 56% of the group.

Temasek International Chief Executive Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara commented “The impact of COVID19 on the global travel industry is unprecedented, especially for airlines and the related sector players. SIA has been seeing strong growth before the hit from the pandemic.  SIA has also committed to fleet renewal as part of its transformation journey. This transaction will not only tide SIA over a short term financial liquidity challenges but position it for growth beyond the pandemic. We fully support SIA’s plans to transform itself"

SIA has also managed to secure a bridging loan facility of around S$4 billion from the country’s biggest lender, DBS Group Holdings Ltd which will be used to support near-term liquidity needs until the airline secures money from the rights issue.

“This is an exceptional time for the SIA Group,” SIA Chairman Peter Seah said in a statement as the carrier had already announced that it would park nearly all its aircraft and slice capacity by approximately 96% leaving almost all its workforce with no work to do. 

Singapore Airlines,

Recommended for you...

Singapore Airlines cutting schedules further and grounding more aircraft

Singapore Airlines Has confirmed it will be cutting 96% of the capacity that had been originally scheduled up to end-April, given the further tightening of border controls around the world over the last week to stem the Covid-19 outbreak.

This will result in the grounding of around 138 SIA and SilkAir aircraft, out of a total fleet of 147, amid the greatest challenge that the SIA Group has faced in its existence.

The Group’s low-cost unit Scoot will also suspend most of its network, resulting in the grounding of 47 of its fleet of 49 aircraft.

The SIA Group diversified its network and set up Scoot to spread its risks and cater to a wide range of passenger and market segments. However, without a domestic segment, the Group’s airlines become more vulnerable when international markets increasingly restrict the free movement of people or ban air travel altogether.

It is unclear when the SIA Group can begin to resume normal services, given the uncertainty as to when the stringent border controls will be lifted.

Covid-19 outbreak forces reductions in Singapore Airlines and SilkAir services across the network

Singapore Airlines and SilkAir have confirmed that it will temporarily reduce services across the group's route network due to weak demand as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.  The airline is cutting the SQ318/SQ321 services on the Singapore London - Singapore route for almost the entire month of May. The firm is also axing some flights to Frankfurt, Paris, Copenhagen and Dusseldorf in Europe.   

Details of the affected flights can be found here.

SIA said it would continue to monitor the situation and make further adjustments as necessary to the schedule, with local media predicting a further downfall in demand as the epidemic is expected to worsen in the coming months.   

Singapore Airlines says all affected customers will be notified and re-accommodated onto other flights and  "Singapore Airlines and SilkAir apologise for the inconvenience caused."

Recommended for you...

Singapore Airlines makes senior management appointments

Photo Singapore Airlines

The SIA Group is making a number of changes to its senior management structure as moves forward to modernisation plans in 2020.  The airline confirmed the changes this week and will take effects from 1st April 2020, local sources say more leadership announcements will be made in the forthcoming weeks.  

Mr Mak Swee Wah, Executive Vice President Commercial, will assume the post of Executive Vice President Operations. He will be responsible for SIA’s Cabin Crew, Customer Services and Operations, Engineering, and Flight Operations divisions.

Mr Lee Lik Hsin, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of low-cost carrier Scoot, will return to SIA and be promoted to Executive Vice President Commercial. He will be responsible for the Cargo, Customer Experience, Marketing Planning, and Sales and Marketing divisions, as well as the Sales Regions.

Mr Tan Kai Ping, Senior Vice President Marketing Planning, will be promoted to Executive Vice President Finance and Strategy. In his new role, he will oversee the Corporate Planning and Finance divisions.

You could have part of the first Airbus A380 in your pocket soon!

The first-ever A380 to enter scheduled service
and also the first-ever to be retired is

now available as a new edition of especially rare Aviationtags

Photo Aviationtags

On 25 October 2007, the largest and heaviest commercial airliner that had ever flown on this planet took to the skies, the legendary Airbus A380 with the manufacturer serial number MSN003. It was the first of some 240 A380s now in existence to enter scheduled service with passengers onboard, flying from Singapore to Sydney for Singapore Airlines as flight number SQ380. The four pilots, 26 crew members and exactly 455 passengers must have been very aware that on this flight they were witnessing a historic event. The tickets sold for record prices, with one passenger paying over 100,000 US dollars for a First-Class cabin measuring a little under three square metres. For a decade, the jumbo Airbus spanned the globe for Singapore Airlines until it was finally retired at the airport in Tarbes, France, also the first-ever A380 to have this distinction.

Singapore Airlines faces significant challenges

Singapore Airlines faces “significant challenges” to its business from the coronavirus outbreak will be adjusting its network and tightly managing costs, it said on Friday, as it reported an 11% rise in third-quarter net profit, reports Reuters. 

The airline, a benchmark for premium carriers in Asia, said its earnings rose S$31 million to S$315 million in the quarter to Dec. 31 due as revenue reached a record high S$4.47 billion due to a transformation plan that boosted sales.

Looking forward, Singapore Airlines said it had “drastically” reduced flights on all mainland China routes and set up a high-level internal task force to monitor the virus situation and roll out measures to minimise the risk to staff and passengers.

Singapore Airlines is now giving your personal details to third parties and the Singapore government.

One of the world's most respected airlines, Singapore Airlines has updated its privacy policy and is now passing on your data to third parties,  both for marketing purposes and to the Singaporean Authorities.

Here's a summary of the changes:

Your information may be used in industry studies conducted by public agencies or regulatory authorities in Singapore;
We may share your information with other companies within the Singapore Airlines Group. This is to ensure your safety when you fly, and to offer services that you may be interested in;
We may share your information with trusted partners, so that they can serve you marketing messages and services that you may be interested in;
We may use cookies to retarget and serve you with tailored Singapore Airlines Group advertisements across multiple websites you visit, and on social media platforms.

There is no telling who Singapore Airlines considers a 'trusted' partner, so there is no way of knowing just who is going to get their hands on your personal data - which could be your name, address, email, telephone numbers,  Kris Flyer frequent flyer membership details and profile and maybe even your passport number.

The airline says its customer's privacy is very important to them,  but changing their privacy policy, it is could also be very lucrative for them, for now, they can sell it on to anyone they want.

Recommended for you...

Singapore Airlines launches KrisFlyer Experiences programme with Mastercard

Singapore Airlines and Mastercard have announced an extension of their partnership with the launch of KrisFlyer Experiences, which allows KrisFlyer members and Mastercard cardholders to use their miles on specially curated activities and enjoy privileged access to events.

To cater to the diverse interests of members, KrisFlyer Experiences covers a wide range of interests including culinary, entertainment, arts, sports and travel-related experiences.

Marking the start of this partnership will be the Unbox a New Experience campaign. This gives one KrisFlyer and Mastercard member a chance to win a pair of all-expenses-paid, once-in-a-lifetime tickets to a special KrisFlyer Experience valued at more than $35,000. The winner must correctly guess the experience hidden within a mystery box, and creatively share who he or she would like to bring along for the experience and why.

Singapore Airlines to operate A350-900 on services to Kolkata

Singapore Airlines To Boost Kolkata Services

• SIA flights to increase to five times weekly; will be operated by A350-900 medium-haul aircraft

• SilkAir will cease Kolkata services as part of integration plans while maintaining flights to four other points in India

Singapore Airlines (SIA) will introduce a fifth weekly flight to Kolkata, India, from 29 March 2020. On the same day, the Airline’s regional wing SilkAir will cease services to the city. Currently, SIA operates four weekly flights and SilkAir operates three weekly flights to Kolkata.

SIA’s Kolkata services will continue to be operated by the Airbus A350-900 medium-haul aircraft, which is equipped with the Airline’s latest regional cabin products for Business Class and Economy Class1.

“SIA’s A350-900 medium-haul aircraft has been warmly received by customers since its introduction on the Singapore-Kolkata route in June 2019. We are pleased to increase our services to Kolkata with this new generation aircraft by adding a weekly frequency from March 2020,” said Senior Vice President Marketing Planning, Mr Tan Kai Ping.

Singapore Airlines And Mastercard Forge Stronger Partnership With Launch Of KrisFlyer Experiences Programme

Singapore Airlines and Mastercard have announced an extension of their partnership with the launch of KrisFlyer Experiences, which allows KrisFlyer members and Mastercard cardholders to use their miles on specially curated activities and enjoy privileged access to events.

To cater to the diverse interests of members, KrisFlyer Experiences covers a wide range of interests including culinary, entertainment, arts, sports and travel-related experiences.

Marking the start of this partnership will be the Unbox a New Experience campaign. This gives one KrisFlyer and Mastercard member a chance to win a pair of all-expenses-paid, once-in-a-lifetime tickets to a special KrisFlyer Experience valued at more than $35,000. The winner must correctly guess the experience hidden within a mystery box, and creatively share who he or she would like to bring along for the experience and why.

$206 Million half year profits for Singapore Airlines.

Net profit for the second quarter rose 68 per cent to $94 million
Strong passenger traffic growth continues to support operating performance
Cargo demand remains weak amid trade uncertainties
Vistara accelerates expansion and commences international operations 

The SIA Group achieved a net profit of $206 million in the first half of this financial year, $10 million (+5.1%) higher than last year, the airline has reported.  It said revenue rose $418 million (+5.3%), primarily from strong growth in passenger flown revenue, partially offset by a reduction in cargo flown revenue, while higher expenditure (+$431 million or 5.8%) reflected enlarged operations. Accordingly, operating profit for the Group was $413 million, down $13 million or 3.1% compared to the same period last year.

 The Group recorded a reduction in share of losses from associated companies (+$36 million), mostly from Virgin Australia, and a higher share of profits from joint venture companies (+$19 million). These were offset by increased net finance charges (-$54 million) due to the recognition of interest expense arising from lease liabilities following the adoption of IFRS 16 Leases and additional financing for fleet renewal and expansion. 

Unexpected Journeys with Singapore Airlines and Singapore Tourism Board

Singapore will take to the world stage with the launch of a light-hearted film series, entitled ‘Unexpected Journeys’ thanks to Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Singapore Tourism Board (STB). 

The series – with three episodes spanning 20 minutes each – aims to surprise global audiences with the impressive range and value of experiences that both brands have to offer. The three short films will be unveiled on the campaign’s dedicated YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/UnexpectedJourneys on 23 September 2019.

In ‘Unexpected Journeys’, Singaporean comedian, actor and host Rishi Budhrani travels to the hometowns of The League of Extraordinary Communities1 for an unconventional holiday. He is hosted by a family of six in Bland, New South Wales, Australia; a group of friends in Dull, Perthshire, Scotland; and a fellow comedian in Boring, Oregon, United States of America.