SilkAir

**SilkAir (Singapore) Private Limited**, trading as **SilkAir**, was a full-service regional airline with its head office in Airline House in Singapore. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines and operated scheduled passenger services from Singapore to 38 cities in 14 countries 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.

As the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, it serves the short to medium haul destinations in the Singapore Airlines Group network. 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.

As of 31 March 2016, SilkAir employs 1,573 staff. SilkAir announced the appointment of Mr Foo Chai Woo as Chief Executive as of 18 May 2016, succeeding Mr Leslie Thng.

For the financial year ending 31 March 17, SilkAir registered revenue of S$990.3 million, a 2.5% increase versus the previous year. Operating profit was at an all-time high of S$100.8 million, an 11.3% increase against the previous year. Profit after tax was at S$59 million, a decline of 51.6%, largely attributed to an absence of a gain from SilkAir's sale and leaseback of four 737-800s reported in financial year 2015/16. As of 31 March 2017, SilkAir's staff strength was at 1,632 staff.

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 part of the merger, SilkAir's website was discontinued and integrated into Singapore Airlines' website on 31 March 2019.

## History

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 International 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.

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.

## Fleet

 Airbus A320-200
 Boeing 737-800
 Boeing 737-MAX 8
 Total

## Other Notes

Tradewinds Tours and Travel Private Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of SilkAir, providing package tours to destinations flown by the airline, as well as chartered flights within the Asia region. The company was incorporated in 1975, and became a fully licensed tour operator in 1984.

SilkAir, the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, was once known as Tradewinds Charters at its founding in 1976, before earning its present name in 1991. The chartered operations were hence continued to be handled by Tradewinds Tours and Travel.