Singapore Airlines 2003 Annual Report Download - page 26

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SilkAir
A major event for SilkAir was the re-branding
of the airline in February 2003, under the
banner of "Where the World Unwinds",
to underline its position as the preferred
leisure airline of Asia. Seven months earlier,
SilkAir had launched its website, with a
booking engine allowing customers to
purchase their tickets online for the first time.
Four new destinations joined SilkAir’s
expanding network. In May 2002, it launched
a thrice-weekly service to Krabi in Thailand,
complementing the 15 weekly flights to
nearby Phuket. In July, twice-weekly services
were added to Macau, and also to Chengdu,
in China. These were followed three months
later by a thrice-weekly service to Hyderabad
in India. Charter services to Jaipur and Bodh
Gaya in India, were inaugurated in December
and January, respectively.
In March 2003, services to Makassar
(formerly known as Ujung Pandang) in
Indonesia were suspended, as the route
was not viable.
In line with its expansion plans, SilkAir
converted options on four A320 and two
A319 aircraft for delivery between 2004
and 2007. By then, SilkAir’s fleet will
comprise 15 aircraft. One aircraft, an A320
was sold and leased back in May 2002.
At the end of the year in review, SilkAir
operated 114 scheduled flights a week from
Singapore to 25 destinations throughout
the region.
Unfortunately, growth had to be reversed
at the start of the new 2003/04 financial
year. Like its parent, SilkAir was badly
affected by the SARS outbreak and was
forced to cut capacity, in terms of available
seat kilometres, by as much as 24 per cent
in May 2003 and an average of 18 per cent
over the entire first quarter of the new
financial year (April to June 2003).
SIA Annual Report 02/03
24