Corporate affairs of Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines is majority-owned by Singapore government investment and holding company Temasek Holdings which holds 56% of voting stock.^[1]

Robinson 77 (Formerly known as SIA Building) was the flagship building for Singapore Airlines, before it was sold in 2006

Airline House, the corporate head office of Singapore Airlines, is in the background

Subsidiaries

Singapore Airlines has diversified into related industries and sectors, including ground handling, aircraft leasing, aviation engineering, air catering, and tour operations. It has also restructured itself by hiving off operational units as fully owned subsidiaries to maintain its core business as a passenger airline. The Singapore Airlines Group comprised 25 subsidiaries, 32 associates, and two joint venture companies in the financial year ending 31 March 2007. SIA sold all its equity share of 35.5% in a joint venture, Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise, to the Bank of China for US$980 million on 15 December 2006.^[2]

There were suggestions to divest SIA Engineering Company and Singapore Airport Terminal Services, two of SIA's largest subsidiaries. Former Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, for one, voiced his opinion in December 2005 that Singapore Airlines should divest these two companies to focus on its core business of air transportation.^[3] Singapore Airlines has evaluated the divestment opportunity and Singapore Airport Terminal Services (which was renamed as SATS Group) was diversified from the group on 1 September 2009.^[4][5]

On 18 May 2016, Singapore Airlines established Budget Aviation Holdings, a holding company to own and manage its budget airlines Scoot and Tiger Airways following the delisting of Tiger Airways from the Singapore stock exchange.^[6]

Companies in the Singapore Airlines Group include:

Scoot

In May 2011, Singapore Airlines revealed plans to launch a low-fare airline subsidiary within a year. The wholly owned subsidiary, New Aviation, was incorporated on 17 June 2011 with an issued and paid up capital of S$1.^[7]

On 1 November 2011, it was announced that the low-cost airline would be named Scoot and would begin flights from mid-2012 with a fleet of four Boeing 777-200 wide-body aircraft.^[8][9] focused on medium- and long-haul routes. The airline will be wholly owned but operated independently and managed separately from Singapore Airlines.^[10]

Vistara

In 2013, Singapore Airlines announced the formation of a joint venture with India's Tata Sons,^[11] which was later christened as Vistara (means "limitless expanse in Sanscrit).^[12] The full-service airline, based in New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport commenced operation on 9 January 2015. As of March 2015, it operates a fleet of 5 Airbus A320 aircraft and serves 5 destinations within India from its hub in Delhi.^[13]

Operational investments

Boeing 747-400 arriving at London Heathrow Airport

The airline has invested in other airlines in a bid to expand beyond its Singapore base, although the results are often financially negative. In 1989, it went into a tripartite alliance with Delta Air Lines and Swissair,^[14] but terminated their partnership in 1999 after divesting their 5% equity stake in each other's company. The airline purchased 25% of Air New Zealand in 2000. However following the near collapse of Air New Zealand, the New Zealand government bought into the airline to rescue it from bankruptcy, reducing Singapore Airlines' stake to 4.5%. This was subsequently sold in October 2004 at a substantial loss.

SIA bought a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic Airways on 30 March 2000 worth £600 million in cash^[15] in the hope of leveraging on it on the lucrative transatlantic market, but by 2007, there has been reports of underperformance and the possibility of divesting its stake.^[16] On 14 May 2008, the company formally announced an invitation for offers for its Virgin Atlantic stake, and publicly acknowledged that its stake in the airline has "underperformed".^[17] In September 2004, the airline entered the low-cost carrier market by establishing Tiger Airways with a 49% stake, in partnership with Indigo Partners LLC, the investment firm founded by Bill Franke, (24%); Irelandia Investments Limited, the private investment arm of Tony Ryan and his family, (16%); and Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd (11%). Tiger Airways was eventually listed on Singapore Exchange in Feb 2010, reducing SIA shares to 34.4%.

SIA also purchased a 10% stake in Virgin Australia on 30 October 2012 worth A$105 million.

On 12 December 2012, Singapore Airlines sold its 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic for US$360 million.

Labour

The Singapore Airlines Group employed a total of 21,534 staff members at the end of the fiscal year on 31 March 2011.^[18] The parent airline itself employed 13,942 (47.3%), of which there are 2,174 pilots and 6,914 cabin crew. The group's employees are represented by five labour unions, namely the Singapore Airlines Staff Union (SIASU), the SIA Engineering Company Engineers and Executives Union (SEEU), the Singapore Airport Terminal Services Workers' Union (SATSWU), the Air Transport Executives Staff Union (AESU) and the Air Line Pilots' Association Singapore (ALPA-S).

Relations between the labour unions and the group management have been testy at times, particularly after a series of wage cuts, retrenchments, and early retirement affected staff morale during and after difficult economic conditions such as the SARS outbreak in 2003.^[19] The ALPA-S alone has been involved in no less than 24 disputes with group management since its registration in May 1981 (itself formed after its predecessor, the Singapore Airlines Pilots Association had 15 EXCO members charged and convicted for initiating illegal industrial action in 1980 in the wake of disputes with management and the SIAPA was deregistered on 26 February 1981) up to 30 November 2003, when the Ministry of Manpower (Singapore) amended the Trade Unions Act to overrule an item in ALPA-S's constitution requiring formal ratification from the general membership for negotiation agreements involving the executive committee.^[20] In 2007, the airline was in the spotlight again when ALPA-S disagreed with the management's proposed salary rate for pilots flying the Airbus A380,^[21] and the case had to be settled by the Industrial Arbitration Court.^[22] The salary ranges of SIA's pilots were made public during the first day of the hearings, and the press noted that the airline's 935 captains who fly the Boeing 777 received higher salaries (over S$270,000) at the midpoint of their salary brackets compared to the company's 36 vice-presidents (S$233,270).^[23]

Disputes have also affected the unions, some so severe that they have attracted the intervention of the government. The internal feuding in ALPA-S which led to the ousting of the entire 22-member executive committee on 17 November 2003 was attributed to "internal politics" and theories that it may involve former pilots, including those involved in the deregistration of SIAPA.^[24] In January 2008, NTUC secretary-general Lim Swee Say spoke up against legal action by parties involved in an internal dispute in SIASU.^[25]

On 2 April 2007 the airline group and its unions jointly launched the "Singapore Airlines Group Union-Management Partnership" and the Labour Movement 2011 (LM2011) in a bid to improve their relations, each pledging to be "pro-worker" and "pro-business" respectively.^[26] In April 2008, the airline's chairman Stephen Lee described the relations between management and the unions as "stable and cordial" in the last two years, with better communication between them. He alluded that several government figures, including Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, has intervened to help alleviate differences, and that there has been more regular meetings and exchanges between the two sides.^[27]

Financial performance

Operating performance

Marketing and sponsorships

SIA is the main sponsor of the Singapore Airlines International Cup, a Group 1 flat horse race, since its inception in 2000.

In April 2014, SIA announced that it has signed an agreement with the Formula One Group to be the Title Sponsor of the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix, taking over from Singtel.^[35]

Branding

Flight attendants, known as the Singapore Girls, are heavily marketed as the airline's icon

Branding and publicity efforts have revolved primarily around flight crew,^[36][37] in contrast to most other airlines, who tend to emphasise aircraft and services in general. In particular, the promotion of its female flight attendants known as Singapore Girls has been widely successful and is a common feature in most of the airline's advertisements and publications. This branding strategy aims to build a mythical aura around the Singapore Girl, and portray her as representative of Asian hospitality and grace and the airline's training program for both cabin and technical flight crew complement this objective. This is similar to the tactics that Pan Am used as they also tried to promote their stewardesses as a big attraction to flying on the airline.

Dressed in a version of the Indonesia Sarong Kebaya designed by Pierre Balmain in 1968,^[38] the uniform of the Singapore Girl has remained largely unchanged. Stewards previously wore light-blue business jackets and grey trousers. Since June 2008, this has been redesigned by Christophe Galibert, artistic Director of Balmain Uniformes. The new steward's uniform now features a single-breasted navy blue suit (jacket and trousers), a sky blue shirt and different coloured striped ties. The tie colours differentiates the four ranks of cabin crew: inflight supervisor, chief steward(ess), leading steward(ess), and steward(ess).

Although a successful marketing image for the airline, the "Singapore Girl" emphasis received criticisms for its portrayal of women as subservient to males. Feminist groups say that its cultural references are outdated and that most Singaporean women today are modern and independent.^[39]

On 9 January 2007, the airline announced it would put to tender its existing advertising contract with Batey Ads, the Singaporean company headed by founder Ian Batey, who was responsible for building up the Singapore Girl brand name and its partner since 1972.^[40] The image of the Singapore Girl would still remain, although SIA will now focus on advertising and promoting its modern fleet and technology instead. On 16 April 2007, the airline appointed New York-based advertising agent TBWA\ to handle its creative advertising for the airline. The contract is worth S$50 million per year over the following five years. Stephen Forshaw, SIA's Vice-President of Public Affairs, said they will start the new branding campaign "as early as there is a practicable opportunity". This change in advertising agency will not affect SIA's buying media agency, which is presently MEC.^[41]

The Singapore Airlines logo is a bird, inspired by a silver kris,^[42] which comes from the keris, a dagger from Southeast Asia prominently featured in the region's myth and folklore. The keris is central in Singapore Airline's branding, such as the SilverKris lounge and the KrisWorld entertainment system. The logo is featured on the tailfin and in the airline's collaterals, and has remained unchanged since Singapore Airlines' inception from the split of Malaysia–Singapore Airlines. The logotype and stripes underwent a minor tweak in 1987.^[43] The livery had a recent change, which saw the "Singapore Airlines" logotype enlarged and moved towards the front and the "bird" logo on the tailfin enlarged, in a similar fashion to the livery variant used on the Airbus A380. However, the stripes and the "bird" remain the same.

References

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