Sudipta Dev – Mumbai
On August 9, 2015, Singapore turns 50 years old as a nation. The year also marks the 50th year of Singapore’s diplomatic relations with India. Throughout the year Singapore Airlines will be launching a series of packages, promotions for Indian customers. “We have recently started a campaign, on January 15, 2015 – every passenger who books return ticket on our website, on Singapore Airlines or SilkAir, are entiled to SGD 130 worth of gifts, which includes upto SGD 30 shopping at Changi Airport and SGD 100 worth of attractions in the city,” said David Lau, general manager India, Singapore Airlines. This campaign is in collaboration with Singapore Tourism Board and Changi Airport. It is a common promotion across India, and only for Indian citizens.
Singapore Airlines was the first airline to introduce A380 in the India sector on May 30, 2014. “The response has been nothing less than spectacular from the market. The launch of A380 to Delhi and Mumbai is something that we are very proud of as it is the first commercial A380 for India. For Singapore Airlines as a group it was also the first time that we launched two A380 stations within a single night. It was a great team effort,” stated Lau, pointing out that it is not an easy task to launch a new destination for A380 in terms of operations, publicity, ground handling, etc.
With A380, suites were introduced in the India market by the airline – 12 in each aircraft. Lau believes that demand for Business Class is growing in India. Singapore Airlines is planning to introduce premium economy by July 2015, though not initially in the India sector, but probably in Hong Kong and Sydney routes.
In terms of expansion, for Mumbai in the peak season of May and June, SIA will introduce additional three times per week flight. A fourth weekly will also be introduced to Ahmedabad, in May / June 2015. SilkAir flies to five Indian cities, besides parallel operations to Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru. “Pune is one of the airports we are looking at for SilkAir, but it is subject to the approval of the authorities,” mentioned Lau.