Bigo747 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Posted (10 years 6 months 1 week 3 days 4 hours ago) and read 1276 times:
Asia's profitable airline, Singapore Airlines, is ready to turn it's subsidiary Silkair into a no-frills, low cost airlines, according to Business Times Paper, quoted by top SIA official.
..SIA deputy chairman Cheong Choong Kong told staff in a newsletter recently that low cost carriers would find it difficult to succeed in the highly regulated markets in Asia but "somebody could be foolhardy enough to try", the paper said...
Cheong says Silkair could be transformed into a low-cost carrier at short notice.
SIA has no intention to build it's own low-cost airline.
..."If somebody were to apply for a licence to operate and hub a new airline in Singapore, it would be very difficult for the government to say 'no'," he said...
9V-SVA From Singapore, joined Aug 2001, 1858 posts, RR: 10 Reply 2, posted (10 years 6 months 1 week 3 days 2 hours ago) and read 1219 times:
Paul, are you sure? All Koh Boon Hwee said in the press release was that "SIA is ready to turn SilkAir into a low-cost carrier at short notice." I didn't hear anything about SIA-lite.
I'll ask my mom when I come back and dish out more information.
Airsnaps From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (10 years 6 months 1 week 2 days 23 hours ago) and read 1174 times:
Hi!
Yes, I'm sure. The information was in last week's Flight International magazine as I mentioned in my previous posting (I read it with my own eyes...) In reference to "SIA-lite", the source in which the quote was obtained was the Far Eastern Economic Review.
I don't have time to check their sites now for any more information, but if this is going to be the case, then we're all likely to hear of further developments in the not too distant future. No point in guessing any further for now.
Aviasian From Singapore, joined Jan 2001, 1452 posts, RR: 16 Reply 4, posted (10 years 6 months 1 week 2 days 23 hours ago) and read 1163 times:
The media has frequently and amply displayed its fertile imagination . . . and so have aviation enthusiasts like us. Perhaps "SIA-lite" is just a name being used for want of a better name . . .
But all SIA is saying now is . . . if Singapore's market is being encroached upon by a low-cost no-frill carrier like Air Asia, Ryanair or easyjet, SIA is prepared to make changes to SilkAir to face this challenge. The key word here is "IF".
Docpepz From Singapore, joined May 2001, 1938 posts, RR: 3 Reply 5, posted (10 years 6 months 1 week 2 days 20 hours ago) and read 1121 times:
Basically nothing has been happening in Singapore lately and bored reporters have been looking for news.
No low cost airline has expressed interest in operating out of Singapore.
Anyway as has been said time and again, an absence of a large middle class in South East Asia (except Singapore and Malaysia) makes the success of a proposed low cost carrier difficult.
Crosswind From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2000, 2571 posts, RR: 59 Reply 9, posted (10 years 6 months 1 week 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 1034 times:
Don't get too excited.
The article in Flight says SIA could rapidly transform Silk Air into a low cost operation to meet any competition from no-frills airlines in the Asian market. However it went on to say that Singapore Airlines believes low-cost competition unlikely in the medium term due to the lack of liberalisation in air-service bilateral agreements.
Slik Air will be rebranded in January as SIA-lite, however it will remain a full-service carrier operating the same routes, with the same service and fares as before.
Don't know about other articles, but Flight International made it plain that SIA doesn't believe low-cost airlines will work within the current regulatory framework and that SIA will only transform Silk Air/SIA-lite into a low-cost operation if their hand is forced by someone else entering the market, which SIA believe is unlikely...
Singapore_Air From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2000, 13711 posts, RR: 21 Reply 10, posted (10 years 6 months 1 week 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 1017 times:
SIA-Lite?
Cheap, tacky and awful. I would be very unimpressed.
" SIA will only transform Silk Air/SIA-lite into a low-cost operation if their hand is forced by someone else entering the market, which SIA believe is unlikely..."
I do agree with that however.
I spoke with one Singaporean and he said that he favo(u)rs the idea of a no frills SilkAir (SilkAir or SIA Lite? Oh please, how tacky with regards to the latter), as more and more Singaporeans are flying with "foreign" airlines due to the fact that Singapore Airlines is so expensive. So I think the demand for Singapore could be there....
9V-SVA From Singapore, joined Aug 2001, 1858 posts, RR: 10 Reply 11, posted (10 years 6 months 1 week 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 996 times:
I do hope SilkAir will not be rebranded, as SIA-lite sounds dumb and will showcase how intelligent the people up there for renaming the perfectly all right SilkAir into SIA-lite.
Bigo747 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 12, posted (10 years 6 months 1 week 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 982 times:
All Koh Boon Hwee said in the press release was that "SIA is ready to turn SilkAir into a low-cost carrier at short notice." I didn't hear anything about SIA-lite.
May be he didn't mention there might be a name change!
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