Went to a talk on SQ's past developments by Lim Chin Beng at National Library, Singapore. Lim, a veteran with SQ and I believed he became Vice-Chairman of SQ at one time. Founded Valuair with some partners.
Couple of points:
a. The Grandparent of SQ, Malayan airlines was apparently a feeder for British and Australian airlines.
b. Landing rights to some European destinations were very difficult to obtain initially with a lot of obstacles and involved a lot of prolonged negotiations and trading. But landing rights very valuable due to nationalistic interests.
c. His personal opinion was that eventually Australia will open up Australia to US sector in a matter of time.
d. Valuair failed due to high fuel prices and lack of deep pockets to maintain long-term sustainability. But Valuair has valuable landing rights to Indonesia that other LCCs do not have.
e. SQ told by Govt that it have to self-sustaining and Sin Govt would not support it financially for prestige reasons and it rather let it fail if it was not self-sustaining.
f. SQ to be international from the very beginning e.g. caviar instead of cheaper local delights like fried kway teow or laksa. However, first change was the introduction of satay.
g. Asked him about CEA bid. Did not give his opinion of CEA bid (rightly so) Just discussed about the potential advantages and pitfalls.
Mr. Lim seems to be a very down to earth gentleman with no airs about him.
Couple of points:
a. The Grandparent of SQ, Malayan airlines was apparently a feeder for British and Australian airlines.
b. Landing rights to some European destinations were very difficult to obtain initially with a lot of obstacles and involved a lot of prolonged negotiations and trading. But landing rights very valuable due to nationalistic interests.
c. His personal opinion was that eventually Australia will open up Australia to US sector in a matter of time.
d. Valuair failed due to high fuel prices and lack of deep pockets to maintain long-term sustainability. But Valuair has valuable landing rights to Indonesia that other LCCs do not have.
e. SQ told by Govt that it have to self-sustaining and Sin Govt would not support it financially for prestige reasons and it rather let it fail if it was not self-sustaining.
f. SQ to be international from the very beginning e.g. caviar instead of cheaper local delights like fried kway teow or laksa. However, first change was the introduction of satay.
g. Asked him about CEA bid. Did not give his opinion of CEA bid (rightly so) Just discussed about the potential advantages and pitfalls.
Mr. Lim seems to be a very down to earth gentleman with no airs about him.
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