SQ's lost mojo - overdue for a good rant!

[flyguy]

do agree that under CCS's term, SQ have lost quite a considerable support due to declining "standards" in both service and in its aircrafts - esp the older fleet which many are still flying without any refurbishments for another good 3 to 5 yrs; until the new planes arrived ie the 787s n A350s. CCS have been indecisive on aircraft needs such as more 77Ws required much earlier, when its apparent sometime ago on the delayed delivery of the new aircrafts.

[Guy Betsy]

But... people still fly them and SQ will still make money. They don't f&*%$ care. Not unless another SARS outbreak hits Singapore.

[milehighj]

But... people still fly them and SQ will still make money. They don't f&*%$ care. Not unless another SARS outbreak hits Singapore.

I totally agree that current management don't care. They'll still make money and claim their bonuses.

My point is that this once-industry leader is becoming a has-been bit player.

SQ needs a new generation of visionary leadership rather than risk-adverse buffoonery. Going further, it is Singapore's one true global, home-grown Icon, and cannot be allowed to become second rate.

Fingers crossed that once Uncle Harry, Madame Ho and Family wake up to this, they might quite agree...

[flying.monkeyz]

Fingers crossed that once Uncle Harry, Madame Ho and Family wake up to this, they might quite agree...

They won't because whenever they fly, everything is prearranged to be in tip-top condition.

[lingua101]

i find CX's service in Y better than SQ's. In J it's pretty much the same.

Well I have been flying CX on SIN-HKG-SIN, HKG-TPE-HKG, BKK-HKG-BKK, SIN-CMB-SIN on Y and SIN-BKK-SIN on C in this years. And I have been flying SIN-TPE-SIN on SQ Y.

In my opinion, SQ is still far superior compare to CX. Not only on the hardware. SQ A330 is equipted with much better entertainment system. CX A330, B777-200/300 are very old and very backdated entertainment system. Not only that, in few occasion I also found some crack here and there. On my TPE-HKG fligt, I was in "newer" B777-300, which u have remote, but the remote was crack. I got the foto of it but not sure how to post here.

In term of service, again SQ is still much superior compare to CX, especially in the food selection.

Well, may be that may not be correct for CX long haul service which I have not yet to try. But honestly speaking giving this quality of regional flights, I am quite reluctant to try their long haul. Afraid to get this kind of standard for 12-14 horus also.

Personally, I am not a big fan of SQ either. But at least for TPE sector, their aircraft is still much better, especially about the IFE (even compare to QR and LH J)

[ycp81]

Cx may lacked in some areas like outdated planes, but do remember that SQ also still has antiqued planes flying around. Try flying on one of SQ's old B772s with no AVOD to MNL and you will know what I mean. Also, CX might not match up to SQ in cabin service, but they are still among the best and is rather consistent. Their new IFE on the long haul planes are also comparable to SQ. But one thing that CX really excels in is retaining customer loyalty. their frequent flyers have so much more perks than SQ's which translate to more flights on CX and higher revenue! Just look at CX's profits! They must be doing something very right.

[milehighj]

They won't because whenever they fly, everything is prearranged to be in tip-top condition.

Don't be absurd. If these people judge a national treasure only by the service they get in Suites then not only SQ, but Singapore Inc. is in for deep decline.

Then again, they did think UBS was a good investment...

[RHG]

CCS have been indecisive on aircraft needs such as more 77Ws required much earlier, when its apparent sometime ago on the delayed delivery of the new aircrafts.

i would agree on the lack of aircraft orders. But then again, given that the SQ 777s are likely to be transferred to "scoot", there is doubt about management mid term planning process.

I totally agree that current management don't care. They'll still make money and claim their bonuses.

That's called wage inflation. And the only people who can stop that are shareholders but given that 65% is owned by government directly or indirect interests, unlikely to change. Not as bad as overseas but still bad when the median salary range is still around the SGD20 to 60K mark before tax.

This is what privatisation is about.

[Nick C]

Where are the new planes and the new routes? Where are the new A380s to replace the older ones? Remember when we had The Airline With The Most Modern Fleet in All The World?

Whose head rolled? The tea lady to the junior manager who thinks e-commerce is a novel little concept?

I'm sure if CCS had ordered more planes we would be seeing new routes now. With CCS at the helm, SQ went from 50% market share in SIN to 30%. Yet with so much spare capacity they failed to counter the decline - leasing the 772s to Brunei instead of using them to grow markets. There has been so much "inbreeding" within SQ during CCS's term that they lost sight of the main goal to be innovative.

Fleet growth, rejuvenation & disposal policies have been redonkulous. EK has about 50% of their 77W fleet is leased from delivery. This is one of the areas where EK is getting things right and they can return the aircraft to the lessor at the end of the lease and not worry about securing buyers. SQ has traditionally gone for the buy, resell and leaseback approach and this is obviously drove them bananas getting rid of the 744s and 772s. Transaero probably got a good deal from SQ.

The retrofit program for the 773s were delayed by Koito but I'm pretty sure they could have gone for a J/Y config instead during the interim. 3 AVOD 772s were excluded from the exercise as well and these could have been retrofitted as well. It's like SQ has evolved from doing their upmost best to just the bare minimum under CCS. SQ could have easily added 77Ws to their fleet in the last 2 years with 9W leasing them out. No doubt it will be not very SQ to do it but it was certainly a good deal to add interim capacity instead of flying antiquated 773s.

Once the 1960s 747 is gone come next March, it will be a modern fleet once again.

To my knowledge, there were quite a number of casualties in the marketing team involved in the website's development.

In my opinion, SQ is still far superior compare to CX.

Ditto. Service CX is good if the crew is ex-SIN but apart from that it's been disappointing for me.

But one thing that CX really excels in is retaining customer loyalty. their frequent flyers have so much more perks than SQ's which translate to more flights on CX and higher revenue! Just look at CX's profits! They must be doing something very right.

CX does reward its FFs miles ahead of SQ but end of the day HKG is in a different geographical locale from SIN. CX stands to gain more from the booming mainland traffic unlike SQ. Plus CX has the TPE-mainland market as well.

[cscs1956]

Cx may lacked in some areas like outdated planes, but do remember that SQ also still has antiqued planes flying around. Try flying on one of SQ's old B772s with no AVOD to MNL and you will know what I mean. Also, CX might not match up to SQ in cabin service, but they are still among the best and is rather consistent. Their new IFE on the long haul planes are also comparable to SQ. But one thing that CX really excels in is retaining customer loyalty. their frequent flyers have so much more perks than SQ's which translate to more flights on CX and higher revenue! Just look at CX's profits! They must be doing something very right.

Yes, the keyword here is consistent.

[KC*]

It's like SQ has evolved from doing their upmost best to just the bare minimum under CCS.

I absolutely agree on that point.

The passion and fire that propelled SQ from a nobody to the envy of all in the early days were totally absent and the impression I got was that SQ managment ran the airline like doing a humdrum 9 - 5 job.

Really hope that there'd be major changes soon. In particular, I'd like to see some attempt to try to win back loyalty. Things like this don't even involve taking risks - just making effort.

And that darn website...arrghhhh!

[milehighj]

And this is how far from the Zeitgeist SQ has fallen. Second fiddle, "a company in Singapore", to a record Boeing order from an upstart called Lion... in a White House press release...


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...YDUN_blog.html

Posted at 08:25 AM ET, 11/17/2011
Obama, in Indonesia, touts private company trade deals in Asia
By David Nakamura
DARWIN, Australia — As President Obama arrived in Bali, Indonesia, on Thursday for the final leg of his Asia Pacific tour, the White House announced several private trade deals in the region that could total $25 billion and support 127,000 jobs in the United States.

A deal by Boeing to sell 240 airplanes to Lion Air in Indonesia for $21.7 billion constitutes the lion’s share of the announcement, the White House said in a news release.

Obama has been making the case that opening trade channels in the fast-developing Asia Pacific region will help boost American exports — and help create jobs back home.

During an economic summit in Hawaii last weekend, Obama announced that the United States and eight other countries had reached agreement on the “broad outlines” of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact.

...

Boeing also will sell airplanes to a company in Singapore, and General Motors will sell airplane engines to an Indonesian firm, the White House said

[Cashsuds]

I will be more dramatic than simply saying its lost it mojo. It's completely lost its marbles!!
I recently flew SQ First SIN-SEL and had ordered BTC. Guess what !! they did not even load it on board and the Crew had to apologise to me profusely. No question about the fabulous crew working their butts off on board and making up for all the inadequacies and cost cutting. The new CEO had built up a good record running Cargo. I get the feeling that we're a piece of meat that needs to be transported from A to B.
It's getting so bad that I get magazines with well used corners and coffee stains/ dried spaghetti sauce on them - This is in First on the A380!!! Is this a fair comment or am I too fussy??

[milehighj]

Here's actually what's fundamentally most worrying, and hence why it was top of my original list:

Emirates = Team New Zealand, Emirates Stadium

Etihad = McLaren Mercedes

Air Asia = ASIA

Singapore Airlines? = big whiff of sexist 20th century imagery of sweet young things wearing ridiculously dated sarong kebayas...

Where's the Future??? How does this Brand evolve beyond Singapore into becoming something sustainably Global?

[ycp81]

I
It's getting so bad that I get magazines with well used corners and coffee stains/ dried spaghetti sauce on them - This is in First on the A380!!! Is this a fair comment or am I too fussy??

Fair comment, considering CX had brand new and sealed inflight magazines in every economy seat pocket when I flew with them 2 yrs ago. Not sure about now though.