is a subsidiary of
Singapore Airlines and is based in
Singapore . It flies from Singapore to 25 cities in
Southeast Asia ,
South Asia and
China . It serves 25 out of 49 short haul destinations in the Singapore Airlines group.
As the
Regional Wing of Singapore Airlines, SilkAir enhances Singapore Airline's vast international network by developing new destinations in Asia and serving regional connections using Singapore as the ideal transit hub.
It is the first Asian carrier to offer handheld portable video-on-demand (VOD) inflight entertainment in the form of the digEplayer 5500, available on flights to China and India.
SilkAir boasts one of the youngest fleets in the South East Asian region, with 11 aircraft;
7 A320s (16 Business class and 126 Economy Class) and 4 A319s (12 Business
Class and 106 Economy Class).
at
Changi Airport , along with its parent company
Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 .]]
The airline had its roots as a regional air charter company in the form of Tradewinds Charters at its formation in
1976 , using planes predominantly leased from parent Singapore Airlines. Scheduled services were introduced when it leased
McDonnell Douglas MD-87 airplanes. A major marketing overhaul was done in
1991 , giving the airline its present name, and utilising up to 6 of the new
Boeing 737-300 s introduced just a year earlier. The mid-1990s saw two
Airbus A310 -200 aircraft in use.
As of
2005 , Silkair's fleet was a combination of Airbus A320s and Airbus A319s.
On
19 December ,
1997 ,
SilkAir Flight 185 , piloted by Captain
Tsu Way Ming , plunged into the
Musi River in
Sumatra during a routine flight from
Jakarta to
Singapore , killing all 104 people on board.
The Silkair fleet consists of the following aircraft (at March
2005 ):
