Singapore Airlines wants to be a budget carrier, too

SINGAPORE (Dec 12): When you think of Singapore Airlines, visions appear of cushy premium cabins, bespoke leather seats, and free-flowing champagne poured by the carrier’s throwback “Singapore girls” flight attendants.

It’s all that, yes. But the luxury carrier is working hard to diversify with budget airlines under its corporate banner. It owns low-cost carrier Scoot; 49% of Vistara, a joint venture in India with Tata Sons; and NokScoot, a low-cost Thai airline Singapore owns in a joint venture with Nok Airlines Co. This collection of airlines—plus a new “ultra long range” Airbus A350 variant scheduled to arrive in 2018—enables Singapore to explore a range of expansion plans, many of which are currently focused on North America.

It’s no coincidence that the region continues to be the runaway success story of airline profitability. It will provide roughly two-thirds of the industry’s projected US$29 billion ($41.4 billion) net income next year, according to estimates released Dec 8 by the International Air Transport Association.

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