TIMA9X
I don't understand why SQ needs to jump onto this LCC bandwagon. Firstly, at least until recently, they were one of the lowest cost operators in the industry. They had lower CASK than Ryanair in 2005, and only Air Asia had lower costs than them. Their pay for middle level managers sucks by Singaporean standards, but they pay their cabin crew very well. (Eg SIN-NRT-LAX gets the most junior crew about S$2000 in extra allowances and pay). The meal allowance for dinner in Australia is like S$150. The crew pay is comparable to QF mainline, maybe slightly more after tax with SIN tax rates, but still it's by no means third world.
They operated a modern fleet, gave all the frills with a cost base barely higher than Ryanair. Now isn't that enviable?
Today they operate a symphony of aircraft from 777-200 non ER, 777-200ER, A330s, A340-500s, A380s, 744s, some refurbished 777-200 non ERs, some refurbished 777-300 non ER, 777-300ERs........Some two-class, some three-class, and the A340-500s are all JCL.....
When 7 years ago they just basically had 747s and 777s. Very streamlined and efficient
Why do they need to be in this LCC fetish phase? Why is there the need to copy everyone else, when for decades SIA set the standard for the industry? The current group of SIA senior management are as self-serving and short-term as the senior managements of QF and most airlines out there.
SIA sits on S$7 bil of cash, and they hardly have any aircraft on order. $7 bil that was painfully built up over 30 years by the previous competent management prior to Chew Choon Seng taking the helm in 2003. They seem to be happy splashing dividends to shareholders at between 7-10%, and this year they declared a special dividend taking the dividend yield to 14%. An airline giving a 14% dividend yield!
Maybe this is just the price of development. When SIA and Singapore started out with just a swampy land and a crappy Paya Lebar Airport and a bunch of 707s in 1972, there was a bunch of dedicated individuals who gave their entire lives to making SIA the best airline in the world, despite all the obstacles it faced. After all, that bunch of people in 1970s Singapore had nothing to lose.
At one stage QF in the 1970s lobbied the Australian government to ban SIA from flying into Australia, because they were selling 6th freedom tickets, which is a concept that SIA pioneered, very funnily. The airline industry back then was so insanely regulated that IATA even dictated the thickness of your sandwiches, and warned SIA about "violating" the rules by having the audacity to serve free alcohol and shock horror, offer a choice of meals in economy.
To say that SIA is operating in an environment today which is tougher than the 1970s, is a big lie. In 1998, in the depths of the Asian economic crisis, SIA made an after-tax profit of S$1 bil. In 2011, SIA can barely make a profit over S$1 bil, and this is in the middle of Asia's boom. In 1998, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, HK, Philippines, South Korea and even Hong Kong were on the brink of economic collapse and still SIA managed to make S$1 bil and was taking delivery of 1 747 and 1 777 every month, almost.
I hate to see my national carrier, and arguably what was once the world's most fabulous airline, deteriorate to such an extent, and become "another one of them". Alas, when people have everything to lose, they tend to not take risks, sit on their billions and not think beyond tomorrow.
This is the price paid for development.