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SilkAir
SilkAir Singapore Private Limited, operating as SilkAir, was a Singaporean regional airline with its head office in Changi, Singapore. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines and in 2017, operated scheduled passenger services from Singapore to 54 cities in Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, East Asia, and Northern Australia. As the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, it served the short to medium-haul destinations in the Singapore Airlines Group network.
By the end of 2021, SilkAir ceased operations, with all flights transferred to its parent company Singapore Airlines or its low-cost affiliate Scoot.
The airline had its roots as a regional air-charter company as Tradewinds Charters formed in 1975, serving leisure destinations using planes predominantly leased from parent airline Singapore Airlines. Scheduled services were introduced as Tradewinds Airlines on 21 February 1989, when it leased McDonnell Douglas MD-87 aeroplanes for services to 5 destinations: Pattaya, Phuket, Hat Yai, and Kuantan from Singapore's Changi Airport, and Tioman from Singapore's Seletar Airport. As the carrier matured, regional business destinations such as Jakarta, Phnom Penh, and Yangon were added to its network, thereby broadening the airline's appeal beyond the holiday-maker to include the business traveller.
A major marketing overhaul was started in 1991, culminating on 1 April 1992, by giving the airline its present name and logo as a new corporate identity. The re-branded airline utilised up to six of the new Boeing 737-300s introduced just a year earlier. The mid-1990s saw two Airbus A310-200 aircraft in use and the expansion of services to India as well as mainland China. It was the first Asian carrier to offer handheld portable video-on-demand (VOD) in-flight entertainment in the form of the DigEplayer 5500, available on flights to selected countries.
On 10 April 2015, SilkAir launched a new collection of uniforms, the fourth uniform change in over 26 years. There are two variations of the uniform - aqua-blue for junior crew and a plum-red version for senior crew. Both variations are accompanied by a dark blue skirt. For the year ending 31 March 2015, the airline flew over 3.5 million passengers and made an operating profit of S$40.8 million. SilkAir announced the appointment of Foo Chai Woo as Chief Executive as of 18 May 2016, succeeding Mr Leslie Thng.
On 29 October 2017, SilkAir took over Scoot's services to Yangon. With the transfer, the airline boosted its Yangon operations to 15 non-stop services a week. On 30 October 2017, SilkAir launched its inaugural flight to Hiroshima, marking the first Japanese destination that SilkAir has added to its network. On 22 November 2018, SilkAir announced plans to transfer 17 routes to Scoot including Luang Prabang, Chiang Mai, Kota Kinabalu, Yogyakarta and Wuhan over the months of April 2019 to July 2020, ahead of its merger with Singapore Airlines in the late 2020 or early 2021.
By the end of 2021, SilkAir had ceased operations and gradually finished integration into its parent company, Singapore Airlines.
The key business trends for SilkAir are shown in the following table (as at year ending 31 March):
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SilkAir
SilkAir Singapore Private Limited, operating as SilkAir, was a Singaporean regional airline with its head office in Changi, Singapore. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines and in 2017, operated scheduled passenger services from Singapore to 54 cities in Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, East Asia, and Northern Australia. As the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, it served the short to medium-haul destinations in the Singapore Airlines Group network.
By the end of 2021, SilkAir ceased operations, with all flights transferred to its parent company Singapore Airlines or its low-cost affiliate Scoot.
The airline had its roots as a regional air-charter company as Tradewinds Charters formed in 1975, serving leisure destinations using planes predominantly leased from parent airline Singapore Airlines. Scheduled services were introduced as Tradewinds Airlines on 21 February 1989, when it leased McDonnell Douglas MD-87 aeroplanes for services to 5 destinations: Pattaya, Phuket, Hat Yai, and Kuantan from Singapore's Changi Airport, and Tioman from Singapore's Seletar Airport. As the carrier matured, regional business destinations such as Jakarta, Phnom Penh, and Yangon were added to its network, thereby broadening the airline's appeal beyond the holiday-maker to include the business traveller.
A major marketing overhaul was started in 1991, culminating on 1 April 1992, by giving the airline its present name and logo as a new corporate identity. The re-branded airline utilised up to six of the new Boeing 737-300s introduced just a year earlier. The mid-1990s saw two Airbus A310-200 aircraft in use and the expansion of services to India as well as mainland China. It was the first Asian carrier to offer handheld portable video-on-demand (VOD) in-flight entertainment in the form of the DigEplayer 5500, available on flights to selected countries.
On 10 April 2015, SilkAir launched a new collection of uniforms, the fourth uniform change in over 26 years. There are two variations of the uniform - aqua-blue for junior crew and a plum-red version for senior crew. Both variations are accompanied by a dark blue skirt. For the year ending 31 March 2015, the airline flew over 3.5 million passengers and made an operating profit of S$40.8 million. SilkAir announced the appointment of Foo Chai Woo as Chief Executive as of 18 May 2016, succeeding Mr Leslie Thng.
On 29 October 2017, SilkAir took over Scoot's services to Yangon. With the transfer, the airline boosted its Yangon operations to 15 non-stop services a week. On 30 October 2017, SilkAir launched its inaugural flight to Hiroshima, marking the first Japanese destination that SilkAir has added to its network. On 22 November 2018, SilkAir announced plans to transfer 17 routes to Scoot including Luang Prabang, Chiang Mai, Kota Kinabalu, Yogyakarta and Wuhan over the months of April 2019 to July 2020, ahead of its merger with Singapore Airlines in the late 2020 or early 2021.
By the end of 2021, SilkAir had ceased operations and gradually finished integration into its parent company, Singapore Airlines.
The key business trends for SilkAir are shown in the following table (as at year ending 31 March):