Singapore Airlines Limited (SIA or SQ) is the flag carrier of Singapore with its hub located at Changi Airport. The airline flies a diverse fleet of 160 Airbus and Boeing passenger and freighter aircraft. Historically, it was the launch customer for the Airbus A380—the world's largest passenger aircraft—and the Boeing 787-10, as well as the first operator of the ultra-long-range version of the Airbus A350-900. The airline has been a member of Star Alliance since April 2000, and ranks amongst the top 15 carriers worldwide in terms of revenue passenger kilometres and international passengers carried.
Singapore Airlines Group has more than 20 subsidiaries, including numerous airline-related businesses. SIA Engineering Company handles maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) operations across nine countries, while Singapore Airlines Cargo manages the group's freighter fleet and cargo-hold capacity. Scoot, a wholly owned subsidiary, operates as a low-cost carrier. The airline is also notable for highlighting the "Singapore Girl" as its central figure in its corporate branding.
The airline is widely recognized for its service quality. It is certified as a 5-star airline and has been ranked as the world's best airline by Skytrax five times. It also frequently appears at the top of corporate rankings such as Fortune's 2026 World’s Most Admired Companies list, where it ranked 24th overall across all industries and first in the airline category.
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Corporate affairs
Singapore Airlines is majority-owned by the Singapore government's investment and holding company Temasek Holdings, which holds 55% of voting stock as of 31 March 2020.
Nevertheless, while the government holds a golden share via the country's Ministry of Finance, it stressed its non-interference in the management of the company, a point emphasised by Lee Kuan Yew when he said Singapore Changi Airport's front-runner status as an aviation hub is more important than SIA. However, he was personally involved in easing tensions between the company and its pilots in the early 2000s, warned the airline to cut costs, and made public his advice to the airline to divest from its subsidiary companies.
Singapore Airlines is headquartered at Airline House, a former hangar at Changi Airport in Singapore.
In November 2022, Tata Group reached an agreement with Singapore Airlines, in which the joint-venture Indian full-service carrier Vistara merged with Tata-owned Air India to form a single entity with an expanded network and broader fleet. The merger officially took place on 12 November 2024, with Air India as the surviving company. Singapore Airlines now holds a 25.1% stake in the company.
In November 2024, Singapore Airlines said it was feeling the impact of the aviation industry’s widespread supply-chain issues, estimating it is likely to have five fewer aircraft than planned by the end of the 2024 fiscal year, with 204 jets in fleet, due to delivery delays.
Business trends
The key trends for Singapore Airlines are (as of the financial year ending 31 March):
Branding
Branding and publicity efforts have revolved primarily around its flight crew, in contrast to most other airlines, who tend to emphasise aircraft and services in general. In particular, the promotion of its female flight attendants known as Singapore Girls has been widely successful and is a common feature in most of the airline's advertisements and publications.
The Singapore Airlines logo is a stylised bird, which has no relation to the keris. However, the keris, which originated in the era of Malayan Airways, is a legacy central component in Singapore Airlines' branding, such as the SilverKris lounge, the KrisFlyer frequent-flyer programme, and the KrisWorld entertainment system. The logo has remained unchanged since Singapore Airlines' inception from the split of Malaysia–Singapore Airlines, except for a minor tweak in 1987.
Corporate livery
In May 1966, Malaysian Airways (MAL) became Malaysia–Singapore Airlines (MSA). The original MSA livery features a yellow MSA logo on the vertical stabiliser and a black nose, with a white and grey fuselage. All aircraft in this original livery have been repainted or retired.
Following the spinoff of Malaysia-Singapore Airlines, Singapore Airlines introduced a second-generation livery features a blue and yellow strip on the windows on the white fuselage, with the stylised bird logo in yellow. The word "Singapore Airlines" was stylised in italics.
The current livery has only some minor changes, and the gold-blue colour scheme and the bird logo have been retained. In the change to the current livery, the yellow rear fuselage was changed to metallic gold with a new orange line added above it. The same orange line was also added behind the bird logo. The font typeface of the word "Singapore Airlines" was modified.
However, in 2005, the livery received a minor update where the "Singapore Airlines" wording was enlarged and shifted closer towards the front of the aircraft, and the bird logo was also enlarged. The blue/gold sections of the tail is cut horizontally. The first set of windows are also no longer left out from the blue/gold/yellow strip. The engine logos were also subsequently removed since October 2007.
Destinations
Singapore Airlines flies on five continents from its primary hub in Singapore.
After the Asian financial crisis in 1997, Singapore Airlines discontinued its routes to Berlin, Darwin, Cairns, Hangzhou, Kagoshima, and Sendai. Toronto was discontinued earlier, in 1992, due to a petition from Air Canada. During the SARS outbreak in 2003–04, Singapore Airlines ceased flights to Brussels, Chicago, Las Vegas, Hiroshima, Kaohsiung, Madrid, Mauritius, Shenzhen, Surabaya, and Vienna. Singapore Airlines discontinued flights to Vancouver and Amritsar in 2009, and São Paulo in 2016.
The airline has a key role in the Kangaroo Route, operating flights between Australia and the United Kingdom via Singapore. It flew 11.0% of all international traffic into and out of Australia in the month ended March 2008. As of summer 2023, it operated more flights to Australia than any other country. Singapore Airlines also operated flights between Singapore and Wellington, New Zealand via Canberra until May 2018, when the intermediate stop was changed to Melbourne. This route was known as the Capital Express. The route was suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Singapore Airlines has taken advantage of liberal bilateral aviation agreements between Singapore and Thailand, and with the United Arab Emirates, to offer more onward connections from Bangkok and Dubai, respectively.
In 2005, AirAsia, a low-cost carrier (LCC) based in Malaysia, accused Singapore Airlines of double standards, when it claimed that the Government of Singapore attempted to keep it out of the Singapore market, despite desiring to fly routes out of Australia itself. In 2007, Singapore Airlines welcomed the liberalisation of the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur route, previously restricted to Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines under rules designed to protect the state-run airlines from competition for over three decades, accounting for about 85% of the over 200 flight frequencies then operated. A highly lucrative route for LCCs due to its short distance and heavy traffic as the fourth-busiest in Asia, bringing Singapore Airline's capacity share on the route down to about 46.7%, Malaysia Airlines' down to 25.3%, and increase to 17.3% to the three LCCs now permitted on the route, and the remainder shared by three other airlines as of 22 September 2008. Until 1 December 2008, Singapore Airlines operated six flights per day. Singapore Airlines operated four flights per day plans from 1 December 2008 when the route was completely opened, while its sister airline SilkAir also operated four flights per day. Malaysia Airlines, the main opponent to the liberalisation of the route and deemed to be the party that stands to lose the most, continued to codeshare with both Singapore Airlines and SilkAir on the route.
World's longest non-stop scheduled flight routes
On 14 October 2015, Singapore Airlines announced plans to resume the world's longest non-stop flight between Singapore and New York – a 15,300 km (9,500 mi), 19-hour route that the airline had dropped in 2013. A340-500 aircraft were formerly employed to serve this route until their retirement in 2013.
SIA resumed the route following the acquisition of new Airbus A350-900ULR aircraft on 18 October 2018. At the time, Singapore Airlines Flights 21 and 22 was the longest scheduled route in the world. It was suspended again in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and resumed in March 2022.
On 9 November 2020, SIA relaunched the nonstop flights between Changi Airport and New York, but this time to John F. Kennedy International Airport, three times a week. The route, Singapore Airlines Flights 23 and 24, is the longest scheduled flight in the world.
Joint ventures
Singapore Airlines have established joint ventures with the following airlines:
Codeshare agreements
Singapore Airlines codeshares with the following airlines:
Interline agreements
Singapore Airlines interlines with the following airlines:
In-Town Check-In Services
Singapore Airlines passengers departing from Hong Kong and arriving in Singapore as the final destination are allowed to use the in-town check-in service at either Hong Kong Station or Kowloon Station. This includes receiving boarding passes, and checking in luggage from 24 hours to 90 mins before departure. This allows travellers to spend time in the city without having to carry their luggage before travelling to the airport bags-free. Each train has a special baggage container car and the checked baggage is scanned in bulk by a mechanised automatic explosive detection system. Upon reaching the airport, baggage is automatically transferred from the airport express to the traveller's flight.
Fleet
Singapore Airlines historically operated an almost entirely widebody fleet. Following its merger with SilkAir, it reintroduced the Boeing 737 to mainline service in March 2021. The airline also operates Boeing 747-400F and Boeing 777F freighters. As of September 2025, there were 163 aircraft registered in the Singapore Airlines fleet, comprising 151 passenger aircraft and 12 freighters.
Services
Cabins
Singapore Airlines offers five classes of service – Suites, first class, business class, premium economy class, and economy class. Major upgrades to its cabin and in-flight service were announced on 17 October 2006, constituting the first major overhaul in over eight years and costing the airline approximately S$570 million. Initially planned for the Airbus A380-800's introduction into service in 2006, and subsequently on the Boeing 777-300ER, the postponement of the first A380-800 delivery meant it had to be introduced with the launch of the first Boeing 777-300ER with the airline on 5 December 2006 between Singapore and Paris.
On 9 July 2013, Singapore Airlines, in collaboration with design firms James Park Associates and DesignworksUSA, released new cabin products for the first, business, and economy classes. They debuted on the carrier's new Boeing 777-300ERs delivered from 2013 onwards, with London's Heathrow Airport being their maiden route. The product was later introduced on its Airbus A350s and extended to all its older Boeing 777-300ERs.
On 2 November 2017, Singapore Airlines released new cabin products for the Airbus A380-800. These new changes cost roughly S$1.16 billion and were rolled out in response to growing competition from Middle Eastern carriers such as Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways. The seating configuration in the new design consists of 6 suites and 78 business class seats on the upper deck, with 44 Premium Economy Class seats and 3-4-3 Economy Class seats on the lower deck. The new changes were rolled out on the five new Airbus A380 aircraft that were delivered to Singapore Airlines, while the existing A380 fleet had these new products retrofitted until 2020. Sydney was the first city served with the new product on 18 December 2017.
The current version of the Business Class was unveiled on 9 July 2013 and is available on refitted Boeing B777-300ERs and the Airbus A350-900. Features include a power socket and ports all in one panel, stowage beside the seat, two new seating positions, arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration and an 18-inch in-flight entertainment screen. The seat has a recline of 132 degrees and can be folded into a 78 in (198.1 cm) length bed.
Long haul business class is available on Airbus A380 and refitted Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, where a fully flat bed is available in a 1-2-1 configuration featuring 30 in (76 cm) of seat width. These seats are forward-facing, in contrast to the herring-bone configuration used by several other airlines offering flat beds in business class. The leather seats feature a 15.4 in (39.1 cm) diagonal screen-size personal television, in-seat power supply and two USB ports.
Catering
Singapore Airlines offers a wide array of food options on each flight. Regional dishes are often served on their respective flights, such as the Kyo-Kaiseki, Shi Quan Shi Mei, and Shahi Thali meals, available for first-class passengers on flights to Japan, China and India, respectively.
SIA has also introduced the Popular Local Fare culinary programme offering local favourites to passengers in all classes flying from selected destinations. The dishes featured in this programme include Singaporean "hawker" fare such as Teochew porridge, bak chor mee, Hainanese chicken rice, and Satay (meat skewers) on certain routes.
They published a cookbook in 2010 titled Above & Beyond: A Collection of Recipes from the Singapore Airlines Culinary Panel.
Passengers in Suites, First and Business class may choose to use the "Book the Cook" service, where specific dishes may be selected in advance from a more extensive menu. Premium Economy class passengers may also choose to use the "Premium Economy Book the Cook". This service is only available on selected flights.
In-flight entertainment
KrisWorld is Singapore Airlines' in-flight entertainment system, introduced in 1997 on Boeing 747-400, Airbus A310-300, Airbus A340-300 and Boeing 777-200 aircraft. KrisWorld overhauled Singapore Airlines' in-flight experience with a new, cheaper entertainment solution that would supersede the primitive Thales entertainment systems on offer at that time by Virgin Atlantic and Emirates.
The original KrisWorld provided 14 movies, 36 television programmes, and five cartoons, as well as many Super NES games, KrisFone and fax, text news and flight path in all classes. The original KrisWorld was subsequently upgraded to feature Wisemen 3000, an audio and video-on-demand version of the KrisWorld system featured exclusively in First and Raffles Class cabins, then progressively introduced into Economy Class in 747 cabins and selected 777 cabins.
In 2002, Singapore Airlines introduced a re-branding of the KrisWorld system. Named Enhanced KrisWorld, it featured additional movies, television programming, music and games, and was installed on Boeing 747-400 and selected Boeing 777-200 aircraft. Connexion by Boeing, an in-flight Internet service, was introduced in 2005. Live television streaming was proposed on Connexion, but this service was discontinued in December 2006. Since October 2005, Singapore Airlines has offered complimentary language lessons by Berlitz. and, starting December 2005, live text-news feeds.
In 2007, a new KrisWorld based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux was introduced, featuring a new interface, additional programming and audio and video on demand as standard. Widescreen personal video systems were installed in all cabins, including 23-inch LCD monitors in First Class, 15-inch monitors in Business Class, and 10.6-inch monitors in Economy Class. The new KrisWorld is available on Airbus A330, Airbus A380 and Boeing 777-300ER. Features include:
Widescreen LCD TV with 1280 × 768 resolution
A range of movies, TV, music, games and interactive programs
Built-in office software, based on the StarOffice Productivity Suite for use with the USB port
Award and recognition
The airline is certified as a 5-Star Airline by Skytrax. In 2019, Singapore Airlines was voted the Skytrax World's Best Airline Cabin Crew. In the same year, the airline won the second and fourth positions for the World's Best Airlines and World's Cleanest Airlines, respectively.
On 24 June 2024, Singapore Airlines was voted 2024 Best Airline in the World by Skytrax for the second consecutive time, having won the same award in 2023. The 2023 win marked the fifth time the airline had taken the prize of "Best Airline" as well as the "Best First Class Airline". Apart from winning the best airline in 2024, Singapore Airlines also scooped the top awards for Best Cabin Staff and Best First Class in World, and won the Best Airline in Asia in the same award ceremony.
On 29 January 2025, SIA was named the top airline, securing the 28th position on Fortune's list of the world’s most admired companies. On 22 January 2026, Fortune published its annual list with Singapore Airlines ranking 24th overall. In the airline category, Singapore Airlines remained the world's most admired airline, followed by Delta Air Lines, KLM, United Airlines, and Lufthansa.
Accidents and incidents
Singapore Airlines has experienced the following incidents and accidents:
13 July 1982 – A Boeing 747 operating as Singapore Airlines flight SQ21A between Singapore and Melbourne flew into volcanic ash from erupting Galunggung volcano and experienced multiple engine failures. A two-engine emergency landing was made at Jakarta and all four engines were replaced.
26 March 1991 – Singapore Airlines Flight 117, an Airbus A310-300 registered as 9V-STP, was hijacked by militants en route from Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport to Changi Airport, where it was stormed by the Singapore Special Operations Force. All hijackers were killed in the operation, with no fatalities amongst the passengers and crew.
21 July 1997 – A Learjet 31, registered as 9V-ATD, and operating a training flight for Singapore Airlines, crashed in southern Thailand, killing both pilots.
31 October 2000 – Flight 006, a Boeing 747-400 registered as 9V-SPK, attempted to take off on a closed runway at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport while departing for Los Angeles International Airport, colliding with the construction equipment, killing 83 of the 179 on board and injuring a further 71 people. This was the first fatal accident involving a Singapore Airlines aircraft.
12 March 2003 – A Boeing 747-400 operating as Singapore Airlines Flight 286 from Auckland International Airport to Changi Airport suffered a tailstrike on takeoff, damaging the aircraft's tail and auxiliary power unit (APU), leading to in-flight fire warnings in the APU. The flight safely returned to Auckland with no injuries on board.
27 June 2016 – Singapore Airlines Flight 368, a Boeing 777-300ER registered as 9V-SWB with 222 passengers and 19 crew on board, suffered an engine oil leak two hours into the flight from Singapore to Milan. During the emergency landing at Changi Airport, the right engine caught fire, leading to the right-wing being engulfed in flames. The fire was extinguished within five minutes after the plane landed and no injuries were reported. The aircraft, which received substantial damage, was repaired.