Aviation in Singapore
On 28 June 1937, a de Havilland Dragon Rapide aircraft, the Governor Raffles, took off from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur and Penang.
Regular weekly scheduled flights quickly followed from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Penang from 1 May 1947 with the same aircraft type.
Other aircraft operated in the first two decades included the Douglas C-54 Skymaster, the Vickers Viscount, the Lockheed 1049 Super Constellation, the Bristol Britannia, de Havilland Comet 4 and the Fokker F27.
Singapore has Air Services Agreements with over 90 countries and territories,[2] and has the most liberal aviation policy in Southeast Asia[3] It has been an active advocate of open skies, and has concluded over 30 Open Skies Agreements, 18 of which are in the European Union, two in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, five out of six members of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, two in the Union of South American Nations and four members of the Pacific Islands Forum.
[4][5] On 2 October 2007, Singapore became the second country to be allowed cabotage rights within the United Kingdom in a fully liberal aviation agreement.
[40][41][42][43] There are similar hurdles trying to conclude OSAs with other countries such as Indonesia[44] and the Philippines,[45] mostly due to protectionist stances and a fear that it will not be a balanced agreement.
Partly in response from competition from AirAsia based in neighbouring Malaysia, Singapore-based low-cost airlines only began to operate from the year 2004 when Valuair launched its maiden flight on 5 May 2004.
In rapid succession, two of the largest airlines operating out of Singapore Changi Airport began operating their competing carriers, namely Singapore Airlines' Tiger Airways and Qantas' Jetstar Asia Airways, who began commercial flights on 15 September 2004 and 25 November 2004 respectively.
A planned Singapore-affiliated airline by AirAsia was scuttled when it failed to obtain an air operator's certificate from the Singaporean authorities, possibly in retaliation to the Indonesian ban on all new low-cost flights into the country by non-Indonesian carriers.
The fiscal fortunes of the two remaining players began to diverge, however, when it became apparent that Jetstar Asia was struggling, while Tiger Airways was doing relatively well.
Keen interest by low-cost carriers to serve the highly protected Singapore-Kuala Lumpur market was one of the primary reasons in bringing forward a partial liberation of the route despite possible business impact particular on Malaysia Airlines.
[63] Based out of Seletar Airport (WSSL), Singapore provides the South East Asian hub for corporate aircraft sales and servicing.
Although presently limited by runway length for operations of ultra-long range aircraft, Seletar offers corporate aircraft owners limited access to Singapore and to manufacturer approved service centres, such as Jet Aviation (for Gulfstream Aerospace, Bombardier and Cessna) and Hawker Pacific (Hawker Beechcraft and Dassault Falcon).
Since 2005, an upgrade in screening technology and rising security concerns led to all luggage-screening processes to be conducted behind closed-doors.
Plans are also in place to install over 400 cameras around the airport to monitor passenger activity around the clock and to check on suspicious parcels and activity to prevent bomb attacks similar to the 2005 Songkhla bombings in Southern Thailand where Hat Yai International Airport was targeted.
