SQ*/MI/QQ | Singapore Airlines/Silk Air/Scoot

[Mith252]

News on SIA's stake in Virgin Atlantic.

SIA in talks to sell off Virgin Atlantic stake
Posted: 03 December 2012 1131 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines said on Monday it was in talks with "interested parties" on a possible sale of its 49 per cent stake in Virgin Atlantic as media reports listed US carrier Delta Air Lines as a possible buyer.

"Singapore Airlines wishes to announce that it is in discussions with interested parties concerning the possible divestment of its 49 per cent shareholding in Virgin Atlantic Limited," the carrier said in a statement.

"These discussions may or may not result in a transaction," it added without naming any of the parties involved in the talks.

Virgin Atlantic was founded by British transport mogul Richard Branson in 1984, with the flamboyant entrepreneur owning a majority 51 per cent stake in the airline.

Britain's Sunday Times newspaper identified Delta as one of the interested parties and reported that the US carrier had approached SIA directly over the stake, which SIA had paid 600 million pounds for in 1999.

If the sale goes through, Delta's European partner, Air France-KLM, may then buy part of Branson's 51 per cent stake which would see him losing control for the first time of the airline he founded, the report added.

Delta was not immediately available for comment.

- AFP/xq

source: CNA

[Mith252]

Delta has bought SIA's stake in Virgin Atlantic.

Delta buys 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic
Posted: 11 December 2012 2230 hrs

NEW YORK - Delta Air Lines is buying Singapore Airlines' 49 percent stake in Virgin Atlantic Airways, forging a joint venture to expand the carriers' trans-Atlantic network, the companies announced Tuesday.

Under the agreement, Delta will invest US$360m and British mogul Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic will keep the 51 percent controlling stake.

Virgin Atlantic Airways will retain its brand and operating certificate.

"Our new partnership with Virgin Atlantic will strengthen both airlines and provide a more effective competitor between North America and the UK, particularly on the New York-London route, which is the largest airline route between the US and Europe," said Delta chief executive Richard Anderson.

The alliance gives the Atlanta, Georgia-based Delta greater presence at the congested London Heathrow airport.

The two carriers will operate as many as 31 round-trip flights between Britain and North America, 23 of which operate out of London-Heathrow.

- AFP/ir

source: CNA

[Mith252]

Anyway, an article on the sale. It is a hefty loss for SIA.


https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.n...81303637_n.jpg

source: TODAY

[sidney_jec]

Virgin Atlantic is a small company. I thought it was much much more valued

[Mith252]

News on SIA's plans after the sale.

Singapore Airlines targets Asia after Virgin exit
Posted: 12 December 2012 2227 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines' sale of its 49 per cent stake in Virgin Atlantic will allow the cash-rich Asian carrier to focus resources on its fast-growing regional market, analysts said Wednesday.

The Singapore carrier's tie-up with British billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic never really took off since the alliance began 12 years ago when the stake was bought for US$966.5 million.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) on Tuesday said it will sell the stake to Delta Air Lines of the United States for US$360 million in cash in a deal to be completed next year.

SIA said it "had been evaluating strategic options for the stake for some time, as the investment has not performed to expectations and the synergies the parties originally hoped for have not materialised."

Analysts said SIA, consistently one of the world's most profitable airlines, had little say in how Virgin Atlantic was run by the flamboyant Branson, and the sale allows it to exit an underperforming investment in the troubled European market.

"SIA can now focus on investments in the Asia Pacific region," Brendan Sobie, a Singapore-based analyst with industry consultancy Centre for Aviation, told AFP.

Sobie said it made more sense for Delta to have a strategic stake in Virgin Atlantic as there are more synergies in their trans-Atlantic network.

Jason Hughes, an analyst with IG Markets Singapore, said that despite the higher acquisition price paid by SIA, the US$360 million "will go down as a profit, as losses had already been accounted for in previous years".

SIA shares closed 1.12 per cent higher at S$10.87 as investors cheered the divestment.

Malaysian bank CIMB said in a note that the sale would give SIA a "short-term boost" but urged investors to focus on the long-term challenges posed by Middle Eastern carriers and budget airlines.

Shukor Yusof, an aviation analyst with Standard & Poor's Equity Research, said SIA can use the extra cash to "redefine its business strategy on top of beefing up its regional subsidiaries".

"It's also good to exit out of Europe because the market conditions there are quite atrocious," he told AFP.

Shukor said conflicting management styles with Branson was one of the chief reasons why the alliance failed to prosper beyond a code-sharing agreement.

"Branson remained the controlling shareholder and he called the shots," he said.

Virgin Atlantic also did not have enough slots at London's high-traffic Heathrow airport for SIA to latch on in its bid to gain a share of the lucrative trans-Atlantic route to New York, Shukor added.

Analysts said SIA's decision to buy the stake in Virgin Atlantic in March 2000 was a good move at the time because Asia was just emerging from the 1997-1998 financial crisis.

But the centre of global economic power has since shifted to Asia, sparking a travel boom in the region.

Passenger traffic in the Asia Pacific is forecast to account for 33 per cent of the global market in 2016, up from 29 per cent in 2011, according to trade body International Air Transport Association (IATA).

"This makes the region the largest regional market for air transport, ahead of North America and Europe which each represent 21 per cent," IATA said in a statement on their latest industry forecast.

SIA has been investing both in the premium travel segment, where it faces competition from Middle East carriers, and in the low-cost market where it is challenged by budget airlines.

SIA in June launched a long-haul budget wing called Scoot while maintaining a substantial stake in low-fare carrier Tiger Airways. It also operates a regional wing, SilkAir.

SIA and Scoot in October announced orders for 45 Airbus and Boeing aircraft. The orders came after SilkAir in August said it would buy 54 new Boeing planes with an option to buy a further 14 aircraft.

- AFP/jc

source: CNA

[Mith252]

News on SIA's code-share agreement with Virgin America.


https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.n...74844624_n.jpg

source: TODAY

[Mith252]

News on SIA's passenger numbers.

SIA carried 9.1% more passengers per kilometre on-year
By Kristie Neo | Posted: 17 December 2012 2135 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines (SIA) said its passenger load factor (PLF) improved 2.5 percentage points to 77.7 per cent last month, as it carried more passengers per kilometre in November.

The airline carried 9.1 per cent more passengers per kilometre last month compared to a year ago, outpacing the 5.6 per cent increase in capacity.

SIA said in a statement that the number of passengers it carried also increased by 9.7 per cent to 1.5 million.

In addition, PLF strengthened across all route regions except South West Pacific, where growth in demand lagged capacity increase.

The Americas led the growth as demand was boosted by promotional activities.

However SIA said passenger yields are likely to come under pressure as a result of the "challenging operating environment and promotional activities".

Meanwhile, SilkAir carried 12.2 per cent more passengers per kilometre year-on-year against a 19.1 per cent growth in capacity.

As a result, SilkAir's average occupancy per airline (or PLF) was lower by 4.6 percentage points to 74.4 per cent.

This was a result of a decline in load factors in the East Asia and Pacific regions, as the increase in traffic lagged the rate of capacity expansion.

Meanwhile, overall cargo traffic, measured in freight-tonne-kilometres, was 8.8 per cent lower than the same month last year, while cargo capacity decreased by 11.4 per cent.

The cargo load factor (CLF) in November 2012 however increased by 1.9 percentage points.

CLF was higher for all route regions except East Asia due to better capacity management.

SIA said that CLF for the East Asia region declined 3.4 percentage points as traffic demand did not match capacity increases arising from cargo capacity on passenger aircraft.



- CNA/jc

source: CNA

[Mith252]

Two news articles regarding SIA. One is about SIA Cargo, the other is about the refurbishment of the B777-200ER fleet.

SIA Cargo fined NZ$4.1m for price-fixing
By Brandon Tanoto | Posted: 21 December 2012 1824 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines' (SIA) cargo unit has been fined NZ$4.1 million (S$4.2 million) by a New Zealand court for its part in a price-fixing cartel.

SIA said in a statement the Auckland High Court had approved the agreed penalty, bringing an end to proceedings brought by the New Zealand Commerce Commission.

Costs were fixed at NZ$259,079.

SIA Cargo had admitted liability for agreeing fuel and security surcharges in Indonesia and Malaysia for cargo flown to New Zealand over a four-year period.

SIA said it would make a provision of approximately S$4.41 million in its accounts for the current financial year.

New Zealand Commerce Commission chairman Mark Berry said in a statement: "Price fixing is unlawful and the fines imposed in the air cargo case should be a deterrent to others who might breach the Commerce Act."

SIA is the seventh international airline in the long-running case to settle with authorities, bringing total penalties ordered to S$25.8 million (NZ$25.5 million).

Other airlines to have settled include British Airways, Cargolux Airlines, Emirates, and Qantas.

- CNA/ck

source: CNA

SIA to spend S$95m upgrading 777-200ER cabins
Posted: 21 December 2012 1754 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines said it will spend S$95 million refitting 10 Boeing 777-200ER aircraft with new long-haul cabin products.

The improvements include seats that fold down into full-flat beds in Business Class and larger entertainment screens for both Business and Economy.

A shift in seat layouts will allow every passenger in the Business Class direct access to the aisle.

The first refitted Boeing 777-200ER will operate between Singapore and Amsterdam from 13 January 2013. Subsequent refitted planes will fly to destinations in Europe, India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

The refitted Boeing 200ER series will have a reduced seating capacity of 271 passengers, instead of 285 previously.

- CNA/ck

source: CNA

[koresh]

Scoot TZ1 Pushback

[Mith252]

This was reported on the news yesterday.

SIA firms up order for another 25 widebody aircraft from Airbus
Posted: 11 January 2013 2044 hrs

SINGAPORE : Singapore Airlines (SIA) has firmed up an order for 25 more widebody aircraft from Airbus.

Five of the aircraft are the A380.

SIA has placed three consecutive orders for the A380 - making it the second largest customer of the A380 - and now has 19 such aircraft in service.

The remaining 20 aircraft are in the mid-size category - the A350-900s, which will be used on medium- and long-haul routes.

- CNA/ms

source: CNA

[emyrr3096]

A320-200 | Silk Air at Bandung, West Java, Indonesia.
if I'm not wrong it's flight hv 3 code number flight: MI, SQ, & GA.


B777-200ER | Singapore Airlines at Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia
it's nice to catch SQ Star Alliance livery

[Mith252]

This is regarding Scoot's comment regarding the 787 problems.

Singapore's Scoot affirms order of 20 Dreamliners
Posted: 16 January 2013 1544 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines unit Scoot on Wednesday said it was confident Boeing will solve problems with its 787 Dreamliner and reaffirmed its order for 20 of the aircraft.

"Boeing has kept us fully informed about the performance of the 787 since we committed to acquire the aircraft," the budget carrier said in a statement after Japan's two biggest airlines grounded all their Dreamliners due to safety fears.

"Boeing has kept us fully informed about the performance of the 787 since we committed to acquire the aircraft."

An All Nippon Airlines (ANA) Dreamliner was forced to make an emergency landing on Wednesday in the latest crisis to hit the new Boeing jetliner.

Scoot's Dreamliner order was estimated to be worth $4.0 billion when it was announced in October.

"We are confident that Boeing's ongoing performance monitoring and external review process will identify and resolve any issues, and look forward to taking delivery of our first 787 on schedule in late 2014," the statement said.

- AFP/fa

source: CNA

[Vrooms]

1984 Singapore National Day Parade:
image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rickhorn/8383923875/

[emyrr3096]

Originally Posted by Vrooms

1984 Singapore National Day Parade:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rickhorn/8383923875/

1980's and 2010's SQ girls is really different yeah

[bagus70]

But why none of them are smiling?

[emyrr3096]

Originally Posted by bagus70

But why none of them are smiling?

Same question with mine! they're just got jetlag bro! SQ route is intercontinent so that's why they're look so tired

[koresh]

Tiger Airways TR 2103 Bangkok ( BKK ) - Singapore ( SIN ) Pushback



Tiger Airways TR 2103 Bangkok ( BKK ) - Singapore ( SIN ) taxi and takeoff



Tiger Airways TR 2103 Bangkok ( BKK ) - Singapore ( SIN )



Tiger Airways TR 2103 Bangkok ( BKK ) - Singapore ( SIN ) landing

[emyrr3096]

Originally Posted by koresh

Tiger Airways TR 2103 Bangkok ( BKK ) - Singapore ( SIN ) Pushback

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPLloUDOd1k">YouTube Link</a>

Tiger Airways TR 2103 Bangkok ( BKK ) - Singapore ( SIN ) taxi and takeoff

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFs-tl9ofkg">YouTube Link</a>

Tiger Airways TR 2103 Bangkok ( BKK ) - Singapore ( SIN )

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emKyOn9kqJI">YouTube Link</a>

Tiger Airways TR 2103 Bangkok ( BKK ) - Singapore ( SIN ) landing

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm1HswgYVIc">YouTube Link</a>

Thanks for the video links

[Vrooms]

Maju lah
image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1438088...n/photostream/

[emyrr3096]

Originally Posted by Vrooms

Maju lah

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1438088...n/photostream/

Thanks for he picture btw how much 772 on Scoot fleets?