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NO APPROVAL TO FLY OUT OF CHANGI
No approval sought or received, says CAAS
ANOTHER airline could be rocking the budget carrier scene in Singapore soon.
By Tan May Ping
13 May 2006
ANOTHER airline could be rocking the budget carrier scene in Singapore soon.
How soon? Rock Airway claims it could take to the skies in six months.
But a check with the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) revealed that Rock Airway does not have approval to operate flights to or from Singapore. (See report on facing page.)
The carrier also has not contacted the aviation authority to obtain the necessary approvals to operate flights to or from Singapore, said a CAAS spokesman.
Yet its website already bills itself as an established low-cost airline and gives the impression that it is flying out of Changi Airport Terminal 1.
According to its website, it flies to Korea, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Macau.
Several Internet forums have been buzzing with speculation over the past week since news of this 'new' budget carrier broke.
But the CAAS spokesman told The New Paper that it has written to the company asking it to remove anything that would give the impression that the airline has the approval of CAAS for its operations.
POLICE REPORT
A police spokesman also confirmed that someone has lodged a police report against the company.
She declined to go into details, but said the police are looking into the matter to establish if there has been any offence committed.
A search with the Registry of Companies and Businesses (RCB) showed that Rock Airway was registered on 25 Apr and its activity is listed as 'airline business'.
A shareholder, who is also one of two directors, is a South Korean whose registered address is in Hong Kong. The other director is a Singaporean C N Nachiappan.
When contacted at his home in Clementi, he declined to comment.
NOT READY YET
When contacted, Rock Airway's general manager, who only gave his name as Mr Lau, said the company was setting up a budget airline but that it was 'not ready for media coverage yet'.
He added: 'We are running a budget airline but it's not ready.'
He said that it would be ready in 'about half a year's time'.
Then why does the website give the impression that it is already operating out of Changi Airport?
Mr Lau put it down to its external agent.
He said: 'We outsourced people to do it. We got a hosting company to do it for us. It's just a test site but they put it all up. We haven't even had the time to vet the site yet.'
When told there has been some confusion surrounding the claims on the website, Mr Lau replied:
'If that's the case we will bring down the whole website. In fact at the bottom (of the website) we already put down that it's under construction.'
Mr Lau also said that the company has just started training potential cabin crew from South Korea in its Singapore office in Changi.
They will have to undergo a selection process after that.
The company's vice-president, Mr Robert Han, told The New Paper separately that the website was for 'our advertisement purposes'.
'There are a lot of things in there that have to be touched up,' he said. 'Some of the information is not correct.
'We are a new budget airline company, and we are still in the middle of setting up.'
He said it takes about six months to a year to get the proper licences.
When The New Paper visited its office on the second floor of a warehouse at the Changi South address, it was bare, with some cubicles, and less than a handful of employees around. The workers declined to be interviewed.
The company also placed recruitment ads in The Straits Times last month looking for crew. One of the them, looking for female cabin crew, appeared in the Classifieds section on 29 Apr.
If its website is anything to go by, customers who buy their tickets online will receive a discount of $5 or US$3 per flight.
CUTTING FRILLS
It claims to serve the needs of travellers looking for a reliable low-fare carrier flying to the Asia Pacific region.
'By cutting out unnecessary frills and carefully controlling the cost of doing business, we are able to offer fares that represent great value for money - often at a fraction of the prices offered by other airlines,' it said on the website.
It added: 'With its present growing network, Rock Airway further wishes to demonstrate its position as Asia Pacific's largest independent regional carrier.'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------Company told to correct details on website
THE Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said Rock Airway is not operating at Changi Airport.
Rock Airway currently has no approval to operate flights to/from Singapore, and it has also not contacted CAAS to obtain the necessary approvals, said a spokesman from the aviation authority.
It also does not have any physical presence at Changi Airport. 'In particular, it does not have any check-in counters at Terminal 1 as it has claimed in the website www.rockairway.com,' said the spokesman.
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