SilkAir

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Silkair

IATA MI	ICAO SLK	Callsign SilkAir
Founded		1989 (as Tradewinds)
Hubs		Singapore Changi Airport
Frequent flyer program		KrisFlyer
Member lounge		Silver Kris Lounge
Fleet size		13
Destinations		26
Parent company		Singapore Airlines Ltd.
Headquarters		Singapore
Key people		Mike Barclay (CEO)
Website: http://www.silkair.com

SilkAir is a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines and is based in Singapore. It flies from Singapore to 25 cities in Southeast Asia, South Asia and China. It serves 25 out of 49 short haul destinations in the Singapore Airlines group.

As the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, SilkAir adds to Singapore Airline's international network by developing new destinations in Asia and serving regional connections using Singapore as a transit hub.

It was the first Asian carrier to offer handheld portable video-on-demand (VOD) inflight entertainment in the form of the digEplayer 5500, available on flights to China and India.

SilkAir operates 13 aircraft: 8 A320s (16 Business class and 126 Economy Class) and 5 A319s (12 Business Class and 106 Economy Class).

1 History
2 Incidents and accidents
3 Destinations
4 Trivia
5 Fleet
6 Codeshare partners
7 Notes
8 External links

[edit] History

SilkAir A319-100 at Changi Airport, along with its parent company Singapore Airlines Boeing 777.

The airline had its roots as a regional air charter company in the form of Tradewinds Charters at its formation in 1976, using planes predominantly leased from parent Singapore Airlines serving leisure destinations. Scheduled services were introduced as Tradewinds Airlines on 21 February 1989 when it leased McDonnell Douglas MD-87 airplanes to six destinations: Bandar Seri Begawan, 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 the 1 April 1992 by giving the airline its present name and logo as a new corporate identity.^[1] The rebranded airline utilised up to 6 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 and mainland China.

[edit] Incidents and accidents

On 19 December 1997, SilkAir Flight 185, piloted by Captain Tsu Way Ming, plunged into the Musi River in Sumatra during a routine flight from Jakarta to Singapore, killing all 104 people on board.

On November 15 2006, an Australian man aboard a SilkAir flight to Surabaya, Indonesia, was arrested and hauled off a flight after remarking to cabin crew about the size of the overhead compartments. He is quoted by the media as having said, "Damn these things are small, I can't fit my bag, where do you guys store the bombs?" He was removed, arrested and fined S$10,000 for 'raising a false alarm about a terrorist act' in the Singapore courts. This fuelled further anti-Singaporean dissidents in Australia, who have retained a vocal stance due to the Singaporean government controlled media, the reciprocated anti-Australian attitude and the recent execution of an Australian for possession of a narcotic substance.