Heritage Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
/ KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to Everyone
Singapore Airlines celebrates 70th Anniversary on 1 May 2017 as the national flag carrier of Singapore. Prior to its designation as the national airline in 1973, there was a competitor based in Singapore. It is Saber Air. Years after 1973, there were other small private airlines formed in Singapore such as Region Air and Valuair.
Saber Air is Singapore's first private airline. It was founded in the 1960s with a fleet of C47s, Twin Otters and several light Cessnas and Pipers, operating mostly charter flights for the oil industry in Southeast Asia from 1966.
In 1969, the Singapore Government took over 80 per cent shares of Saber Air in an attempt to control the civil aviation industry in Singapore. In 1971, it started Singapore-London route with DC8-61 on lease from US-based Overseas National Airways (ONA). However the relationship between ONA and Saber did not last long. The DC8 was returned to ONA and replaced with B707 leased from British Caledonian Airlines.
In 1973, after the break-up of Malaya-Singapore Airlines (MSA) into Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Malaysian Airlines System (MAS), the Singapore Government decided that Singapore Airlines was the chosen flag carrier for Singapore and closed down Saber Air.
From then on, Singapore did not have private airlines that operate for a long period of time until the emergence of Region Air, Singapore's first private holiday charter airline initially operating the HPL Travel Bug franchise and later an aircraft leasing firm and airline General Sales Agency (GSA) in the 1990s. It operated limited charter flights from Singapore to Cairns, Brisbane, Melbourne, Pattaya, Hangzhou, Ulaanbaatar and Almaty from Singapore, code-sharing flights to Vung Tau with Vietnam Air Services Company (VASCO) and leased aircraft to Bulgaria's Jes Air, Vietnam Airlines and Myanmar Airways International during this period.
Then in 2004, Valuair became Singapore's first low-cost private budget airline to launch flights to Bangkok Don Mueang and Hong Kong using Airbus A320 on 5 and 7 May. It quickly expanded its route network to include flights to Perth on 1 December 2004, Chengdu on 20 April 2005 and Xiamen on 25 April 2005 but it was merged with Australia-Singapore joint-venture Jetstar Asia on 24 June 2005 to form Orange Star. However, the name Orange Star was never used commercially. Jetstar Asia is now known informally as Jetstar.
/ KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to Everyone
Singapore Airlines celebrates 70th Anniversary on 1 May 2017 as the national flag carrier of Singapore. Prior to its designation as the national airline in 1973, there was a competitor based in Singapore. It is Saber Air. Years after 1973, there were other small private airlines formed in Singapore such as Region Air and Valuair.
Saber Air is Singapore's first private airline. It was founded in the 1960s with a fleet of C47s, Twin Otters and several light Cessnas and Pipers, operating mostly charter flights for the oil industry in Southeast Asia from 1966.
In 1969, the Singapore Government took over 80 per cent shares of Saber Air in an attempt to control the civil aviation industry in Singapore. In 1971, it started Singapore-London route with DC8-61 on lease from US-based Overseas National Airways (ONA). However the relationship between ONA and Saber did not last long. The DC8 was returned to ONA and replaced with B707 leased from British Caledonian Airlines.
In 1973, after the break-up of Malaya-Singapore Airlines (MSA) into Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Malaysian Airlines System (MAS), the Singapore Government decided that Singapore Airlines was the chosen flag carrier for Singapore and closed down Saber Air.
From then on, Singapore did not have private airlines that operate for a long period of time until the emergence of Region Air, Singapore's first private holiday charter airline initially operating the HPL Travel Bug franchise and later an aircraft leasing firm and airline General Sales Agency (GSA) in the 1990s. It operated limited charter flights from Singapore to Cairns, Brisbane, Melbourne, Pattaya, Hangzhou, Ulaanbaatar and Almaty from Singapore, code-sharing flights to Vung Tau with Vietnam Air Services Company (VASCO) and leased aircraft to Bulgaria's Jes Air, Vietnam Airlines and Myanmar Airways International during this period.
Then in 2004, Valuair became Singapore's first low-cost private budget airline to launch flights to Bangkok Don Mueang and Hong Kong using Airbus A320 on 5 and 7 May. It quickly expanded its route network to include flights to Perth on 1 December 2004, Chengdu on 20 April 2005 and Xiamen on 25 April 2005 but it was merged with Australia-Singapore joint-venture Jetstar Asia on 24 June 2005 to form Orange Star. However, the name Orange Star was never used commercially. Jetstar Asia is now known informally as Jetstar.
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