History of Singapore Airlines
Following the disruptions of World War II and the cessation of Wearne's Air Service, the aviation sector in Southeast Asia underwent a significant transition.
The gap left by the discontinuation of Wearne's Air Service provided an opportunity for the development of a new regional airline.
[citation needed] In 1970, the airline began what turned out to be very lengthy negotiations aimed at obtaining approval to operate services to the US.
[13] SIA expanded almost overnight after the split from MSA in 1972, adding cities in the Indian subcontinent and Asia to its network, and new airliners, including Boeing 747s, to its fleet.
The airline's passenger network covered 28 cities in 23 countries, ranging from London in the north west to Auckland in the south east.
[9] To mark the occasion, the airline announced in late 1976 that it would be sponsoring the second running of the London–Sydney Marathon car rally, which was to take place in August-September 1977.
[15] In March 1977, negotiations between SIA and the CAB were resumed, and in August 1977 it was reported that the airline had placed an order for four McDonnell Douglas DC-10s.
[16] The same month, SIA took delivery of its first Boeing 727-200 Advanced, flying the aircraft on its inaugural service from Singapore to Manila.
Determined to make the route a success, British Airways and Singapore Airlines resumed flights on 24 January 1979, this time avoiding Malaysian airspace as well as Indian's.
Operation of the first few of the US flights was hampered by a severe aviation fuel shortage in the US, due to production cuts by Iran.
The Airbus A340-300s augmented the 747-400s on long-range routes to Spain, Zürich, Copenhagen, San Francisco and cities not suitable for 747 service.
Police raided SIA's offices in Germany for offering tickets that were priced at such a low level they were allegedly illegal.
[24] In 2004, SIA began non-stop trans-Pacific flights from Singapore to Los Angeles and Newark, utilising the Airbus A340-500.
On 25 October 2007, SIA's first double decker Airbus A380-800 operated the type's inaugural revenue service, a flight from Singapore to Sydney.
[citation needed] As of December 2023, Singapore Airlines is the world's second largest operator of the A380, after Emirates and alongside British Airways.
SIA operates the A380 on routes to London, Zürich, Frankfurt, Paris, Mumbai, Beijing, Sydney, Melbourne, Los Angeles and New York.
In January 2009, SIA took the decision to stop its thrice weekly flights to Vancouver, Canada as the global financial crisis had sapped demand on the route.
[26] Singapore Airlines had argued that transpacific flights from Australia suffered from under-capacity, leading to limited competition and relatively high air fares.
[citation needed] As well as an extended flying time, special meals, performances and inflight celebrations, passengers were given well stocked 747 goody bags.
[citation needed] The airline announced that it will end its direct flights from Singapore to both Newark and Los Angeles from 23 November 2013 and 20 October 2013, respectively.
On 14 June 2006, Singapore Airlines placed an initial order for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner as part of its future aircraft expansion.
It eventually served London, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Zürich, Los Angeles as well as New York JFK (via Frankfurt) [44][45][46][47][48] On 18 February 2009, SIA carried its one millionth A380 passenger.
[57] On 18 May 2018, Singapore Airlines announced that the SilkAir fleet would undergo a major cabin product upgrade from 2020 before being fully merged into the parent company.
As countries started to restrict international travel through their border controls, the airline began cutting capacity on 23 January 2020,[67][68] up to 96% in March 2020.
[69] The remaining flights were required to have everyone wearing face masks; social distancing was ruled out as it may incur high costs.
[70] Operations at Changi Airport were consolidated to Terminal 3 in May 2020,[71] with its service centre located at the ION Orchard shopping mall during the lockdown period of the government mandated "circuit breaker" from 7 April to 1 June 2020.
[72] On 10 April 2020, SIA announced that they would offer a full cash refund on Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and Scoot tickets bought during the COVID-19 pandemic.
[79] In addition, the airline announced on 27 March 2020 that it was raising some S$8.8 billion through a mixture of shares and bonds, which would be issued at a discount.
[84] To ensure the safety of passengers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Singapore Airlines launched an application that works like a Digital Health Passport.
[86] Transfers would only be allowed between airlines within the SIA Group and passengers would be segregated at Changi Airport between high-risk and low-risk zones.
