Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 landing at Heathrow courtesy Wikipedia

In 2005, Singapore Airlines 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, which was expected to occur in the 2nd quarter of 2006 but has since been pushed back to later in the year. Singapore Airlines was the first airline to offer free headsets and drinks. Its reputation for service quality has made it the world’s most awarded airline to date. 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.

Singapore Airlines has been around for 60 years and can trace its roots back to when a Malayan Airways aircraft left Singapore’s Kalang Airport en route to Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Penang on 1 May 1947. This thrice-weekly jaunt is how the airline got its wings, acquired more aircraft and subsequently growing to become one of the biggest and most respected airlines in the world. The carrier has gone through a few names to get to the simple moniker of Singapore Airlines. Having begun operations under the title of Malayan Airways Limited Airspeed Consul, when the federation of Malaysia was born on 16 September 1963, the airline was renamed Malaysian Airways Limited. Three years later, to include the city-state of Singapore, the name was again changed to Malaysia-Singapore Airlines.

Up until this point, the airline used a variety of aircraft for its flights. There were Fokker F27s, Vickers Viscount and a DC-4 Skymaster among other aircraft. In 1972, when the company split into two separate entities – Singapore Airlines and the Malaysian Airline System, Singapore Airlines took advantage of the situation and began to purchase Boeing planes. The new face of Singapore Airlines was that of modernity and a fleet of Boeing 747 jets was acquired and a new freight terminal and hangar for the 747s was constructed.

Singapore likes its planes big. In the 1980s, Singapore Airlines became the first airline in the world to use an Airbus A300 Superbus, and also used Boeing 747-300 and B757s. The next decade saw more ambitious purchases of behemoth aircraft and by 2000, with the order of 19 A380s from Airbus, the airline now has one of the largest and most modern fleets in the world. Anyone who has taken a flight with Singapore Airlines knows that there is no corners cut when it comes to service. Whether you’re first class or economy, the in-flight entertainment system is superb and will pass the time of any long-haul flight with ease. The airline boasts decent food and free drinks as well. Singapore Airlines was actually the first airline to start a free drinks service.

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