Annex B Singapore's Pioneer Airlines As We Celebrate 50 Years Of
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Annex B Singapore’s Pioneer Airlines As we celebrate 50 years of Singapore’s independence, Changi Airport Group recognises the contributions of 12 pioneer airlines that have operated here since 1965 or earlier. These airlines have been important partners in the growth and development of the Singapore air hub. Here’s a brief look at each of the 12 pioneer airlines of Changi Airport, arranged in the order of the date it first started operations in Singapore. 1. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (1933) Founded in 1919, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is the world’s oldest airline still operating under its original name. KLM launched the first intercontinental flight from Amsterdam to Jakarta (then known as Batavia) on 1 October 1924 and shortly afterwards mounted a direct air service to Singapore on 3 May 1933, with three weekly services connecting the Dutch East Indies, Singapore Malaya, the Netherlands and Great Britain. With that, KLM was the first western airline to operate a scheduled service into Singapore. KLM currently operates a daily Amsterdam-Singapore-Denpasar service using the Boeing 777 aircraft. 2. British Airways (1933) With its origins traced back to the birth of civil aviation, British Airways (previously known as Imperial Airways) was officially established on 31 March 1974 following the merger of British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and British European Airways (BEA). The airline’s inaugural flight to Singapore in 1933 took 10 days, departing from Croydon, London, and travelling via Paris, Brindisi, Alexandria, Cairo and Karachi. Over the years, British Airways has operated numerous iconic aircraft, including the supersonic Aerospatiale-BAC Concorde. The world's first Concorde service commenced in January 1976 from London Heathrow to Bahrain, with the route subsequently extended to Singapore. The airline currently operates a twice- daily service between London and Singapore and a daily service to Sydney. 3. Qantas Airways (1935) QANTAS – which stands for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd – is the world’s third oldest airline, founded in the Queensland outback on 16 November 1920. The airline was renamed to Qantas Empire Airways Limited in 1934 and launched its inaugural international service in May 1935 when their service from Darwin carrying airmail was extended to Singapore. Shortly after, Qantas operated its first overseas passenger flight from Brisbane to Singapore, which took four days. Qantas currently operates 28 weekly services to Singapore from Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney and it will launch five weekly services to Perth from 26 June 2015. 4. Cathay Pacific (1946) Cathay Pacific was founded by American Roy Clinton Farrell and Australian Sydney Hugh de Kantzow on 24 September 1946. Soon after, the airline commenced operations to Singapore before flights were added to Manila, Bangkok and Shanghai. Cathay Pacific is a founding member of the Oneworld airline alliance, together with American Airlines, British Airways, Canadian Airlines and Qantas Airways. The airline now operates 66 weekly services, comprising of 63 passenger and three cargo services. 5. Malaysia Airlines (as Malayan Airways in 1947) Malayan Airways Limited was incorporated in Singapore on 12 October 1937, in partnership with Alfred Holt’s Liverpool-based Ocean Steamship Company, Straits Steamship Company and Imperial Airways. The airline’s first flight was a charter flight 10 years later, from the British Straits Settlement of Singapore to Kuala Lumpur in 2 April 1947. After Malaysia gained its independence in 1957, Malayan Airways changed its name to Malaysia-Singapore Airlines (MSA). In 1972, MSA split to form two new entities – Malaysian Airline System (MAS) and Singapore Airlines. MAS currently operates 150 weekly flights out of Singapore, of which 138 of the flights are bound to and from Kuala Lumpur. 6. Singapore Airlines (as Malayan Airways in 1947) Singapore Airlines’ history can be traced back to 1 May 1947, when a Malayan Airways Limited (MAL) Airspeed Consul took off from Singapore Kallang Airport on the first of three scheduled flights a week to Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Penang. Since its founding in 1972, Singapore Airlines has come a long way, evolving from a regional airline to one of the most respected travel brands around the world. When Changi Airport opened in 1981, the first flight was SQ101 from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. Passengers on the inaugural flight were also presented with a commemorative certificate from Singapore Airlines as well as a pewter Merlion from the Singapore Tourism Board. Singapore Airlines has always been a pioneer in the industry, creating several world firsts. It was the first to introduce satellite-based in-flight telephones in 1991 and the first to offer audio and video on-demand capabilities in all flight classes in October 2001. In particular, it was the first airline to operate the Airbus A380 super jumbo on 25 October 2007 from Singapore to Sydney. Today, Singapore Airlines is the biggest carrier at Changi Airport with about 740 weekly services to more than 60 destinations worldwide. 7. Air India (1954) Previously known as Tata Airlines, the Indian government acquired a 49% stake in Air India, two years after India’s independence was declared in 1949. The airline operated its inaugural flight to Singapore via Madras on 16 July 1954, using the Lockheed-749A Constellation aircraft, once every week. Singapore was the Indian national carrier’s first Southeast Asian destination. Since then, Air India has increased its connectivity to Singapore with daily Boeing-787 Dreamliner services from Chennai, Mumbai & New Delhi. 8. Japan Airlines (1958) Japan Airlines Co. Ltd (JAL) was founded on 1 October 1951, based in the Shinagawa ward of Tokyo, Japan. Singapore was picked as the first Southeast Asian destination for JAL to operate the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to, when Changi Airport welcomed its first commercial B787 flight on 14 October 2012. JAL currently operates two daily flights from Singapore to Tokyo-Haneda and a daily Tokyo-Narita – Singapore service. 9. Thai Airways (1960) Thai Airways was founded in 1960 as a joint venture with Scandinavian Airlines to build a network for international operations. Singapore was one of the airline’s first few destinations launched, when it first flight arrived in Singapore on 5 May 1960. With a daily service connecting Bangkok to Singapore, Thai Airways was the first foreign Southeast Asian carrier to operate a scheduled service into Singapore. The airline currently operates 32 weekly services between Singapore and Bangkok. 10. Air France (1964) Formerly known as UTA French Airlines, Air France first introduced services from Europe to Australia via Singapore from 26 October 1964. In 1973, Singapore was the first destination to receive the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 (the largest DC aircraft then), where UTA was the launch airline. UTA was also the first airline to introduce the Boeing 747-300 jumbo aircraft to Changi in1983. Today, Air France operates daily Paris-Singapore-Jakarta services. 11. Lufthansa German Airlines (1965) Lufthansa’s aviation journey started in 1926, when Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G. was formed in Berlin. The airline operated its first flight to Singapore in 1965, utilising a Boeing B720 aircraft and has since progressed significantly in both the passenger and cargo business. In 2011, Lufthansa deployed the Airbus A380, the world’s largest aircraft on the Frankfurt-Singapore route. Coinciding with Singapore’s fifty years of independence, this year also marks Lufthansa’s fiftieth anniversary of operations in Singapore. 12. Philippines Airlines (1965) Philippine Airlines (PAL) took to the skies on 15 March 1941, in the middle of World War II. The airline launched its inaugural flight to Singapore on 1 November 1965, operating the McDonnell Douglas DC-8 aircraft. PAL currently operates 28 weekly services from the Philippine capital city of Manila to Singapore. .