Silk Air

SilkAir (Singapore) Private Limited (Chinese: 勝安航空 Shèngān Hángkōng) is an airline based in Singapore. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines and operates scheduled passenger services from Singapore to 31 cities in Southeast Asia, South Asia and China. It has its head office on the fifth storey of SIA Superhub 1. As the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, it serves 31 out of 50 short-haul destinations in the Singapore Airlines Group network, and flew 1.56 million passengers in 2006. It made a profit of S$30 million, as turnover rose 20.4% to $415 million.

As of 31 March 2010, SilkAir employs 278 staff.

History
The airline had its roots as a regional air-charter company in the form of Tradewinds Charters, formed in 1976, and using planes predominantly leased from parent company Singapore Airlines serving leisure destinations. Scheduled services were introduced as Tradewinds Airlines on 21 February 1989, when it leased McDonnell Douglas MD-87 airplanes for services to six destinations, namely Bandar Seri Begawan, Pattaya, Phuket, Hat Yai and Kuantan from Singapore's Changi Airport and Tioman from Singapore's Seletar Airport. As the carrier matured, regional business destinations such as Jakarta, Phnom Penh and Yangon were added to its network, thereby broadening the airline's appeal beyond the holiday-maker to include the business traveller.

A major marketing overhaul was started in 1991, culminating on 1 April 1992, by giving the airline its present name and logo as a new corporate identity. The re-branded airline utilised up to six of the new Boeing 737-300s introduced just a year earlier. The mid-1990s saw two Airbus A310-200 aircraft in use and the expansion of services to India as well as mainland China. It was the first Asian carrier to offer handheld portable video-on-demand (VOD) in-flight entertainment in the form of the DigEplayer 5500, available on flights to selected countries.

Codeshare agreements
SilkAir has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:
 * Bangkok Airways
 * Garuda Indonesia (SkyTeam - Future)
 * Malaysia Airlines (Oneworld - Future)
 * Singapore Airlines (parent company)
 * Virgin Australia

Fleet
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SilkAir began operations with 2 leased McDonnell Douglas MD-87 aircraft in 1989, before investing in its own fleet of six Boeing 737-300s, the first of which began operations in 1991. It operated two Airbus A310-200s for a brief period from 1993 to 1995 before they were transferred to Singapore Airlines, and two Fokker F70 from 1995 to 2000. It began replacing its Boeing fleet with Airbus aircraft when the first Airbus A320-200 arrived in 1998, and retired all Boeing aircraft a year later. On 20 December 2006, SilkAir signed an agreement to purchase 11 Airbus A320-200 aircraft with nine more on option. These aircraft will be delivered between 2009-2012.

The SilkAir fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of 29 February 2012):

Cabins
There are only two classes of cabins available on all SilkAir flights — business class and economy class.

Business Class
Business class cabins are available on all SilkAir flights. The business-class cabins offer a seat pitch of between 39 to 40 inches and legroom of 19.3 inches. Business class passengers now get to enjoy leather seats which are on all Airbus A320s.

Economy Class
All economy class cabins on SilkAir have a seat pitch of 31 inches and legroom of 12 inches. It now features a new autumn colour scheme.

Dining
SilkAir offers Oriental and Western menus which emphasise on flavours of the region. Local delights such as Hainanese chicken rice, laksa, mee siam and mee rebus are available on selected flights.

Entertainment
SilkAir offers a selection of short story books and magazine titles on board and screens a series of short features on their inflight screens. SilkAir inflight magazine, Silkwinds is complimentary for all passengers. It is published once every two months.

Tradewinds Tours and Travel
Tradewinds Tours and Travel Private Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of SilkAir, providing package tours to destinations flown by the airline, as well as chartered flights within the Asia region. The company was incorporated in 1975, and became a fully licensed tour operator in 1984.

SilkAir, the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, was once known as Tradewinds Charters at its founding in 1976, before earning its present name in 1991. The chartered operations were hence continued to be handled by Tradewinds Tours and Travel.

Awards
The airline won successive Best Regional Airline: Southeast Asia in 2009 and 2010 by Skytrax at each year's respective World Airlines Awards. In October 2011, SilkAir was awarded the Regional Airline of the Year by the Centre for Aviation (CAPA), an aviation research body.

Incidents and accidents

 * On 19 December 1997, SilkAir Flight 185, operated by a Boeing 737-300 and piloted by Captain Tsu Way Ming, plunged into the Musi River in Sumatra during a routine flight from Jakarta to Singapore, killing all 104 people on board. The crash was investigated by various groups, with different results. The Indonesian NTSC, who were lead investigators, stated that they were unable to determine the cause, while the U.S. NTSB concluded that the crash resulted from an intentional act by a pilot, most likely the captain.