SIA
Shocking declines
Fell from 1st to 4th to 7th in Skytrax world rankings in past three years. Discussion.
Jun 20, 2006

British Airways has been announced as the 2006 Airline of the Year in the World Airline Awards published Friday. In second place is Qantas, with the 2005 winner - Cathay Pacific - ranked in 3rd position for 2006.

The 2006 World Airline Awards ® are based on the annual World Airline Survey conducted by Skytrax - carried out between September 2005 and May 2006.

(Surprisingly SIA was ranked only 7th, down from 4th in 2005 and Best Airline in the world in 2004.)

The survey measures over 35 different aspects of passenger satisfaction for each airline's product and service standards - evaluating the 'typical' travel experience.

The world's top airlines - 2006

(Rank, airline, 2005 rank)
1 British Airways 5th
2 Qantas Airways 2nd
3 Cathay Pacific 1st
4 Thai Airways 7th
5 Emirates 3rd
6 Qatar Airways 8th
7 Singapore Airlines 4th
8 ANA 10th
9 Malaysia Airlines 6th
10 China Airlines 16th
(Skytrax Research)

Commenting on the Awards, Edward Plaisted (CEO, Skytrax) said:

...... The World Airline Survey is recognised across the globe as the leading independent monitor of passenger opinions - the survey process offering the only truly worldwide project, with open and uninfluenced results.

The final total of 13.61 million eligible, completed survey interviews was beyond our expectations, and we extend a very big thank you to all those customers who participated."

Our congratulations go to the 2006 Airline of the Year winner, British Airways.

In contrast to several previous year surveys, we found that the level of nominations for British Airways by their premium passengers was proportionately much higher than that of other airlines in the Top 10 rankings - clearly they are doing something right in that particular market.

An airline undergoing considerable changes and cutting product levels to compete across Europe with the low-cost airline competition, a key element to emerge in the passenger voting for British Airways was that it performs well in terms of general product and service consistency."

Contrasting with the higher support for British Airways from their premium customers, the final rankings for Cathay Pacific, Thai Airways and Emirates were much more influenced by nominations from their Economy class customers.

Qantas takes the 2nd place Silver Award, repeating their 2004/5 performance, and demonstrating that they are well-established amongst the top quality airlines in the world.

A strong performer in other 2006 Category Awards, we will be watching with interest to see if they can push themselves into the top position next year!" added Plaisted.

The 2005 winner, Cathay Pacific, was ranked in 3rd position for the 2006 World Airline Awards, with Thai Airways in 4th place, and Emirates in 5th. Thai Airways enjoyed further success in the Awards, being named as Worlds Best Cabin Staff for 2006.

Continuing its upward rise in the Award rankings, Qatar Airways takes 6th position (up from 8th in 2005), ahead of Singapore Airlines (SIA) in 7th - SIA being a previous Airline of the Year winner in 2004.

Qatar Airways strong performance extended to winning the Awards for Best Airline Middle East, together with achieving 2nd place worldwide in the Best Cabin Staff category.

Japan's ANA is another airline that improved on its previous-year ranking, moving into 8th place for 2006 (from 10th last year).

A regular top 10 performer, Malaysia Airlines ranks 9th this year, slipping slightly from 6th position in 2005. The final Top 10 place goes to Taiwan's China Airlines, making a jump of 6 places from their 2005 ranking.

"We are already in planning for the 2006/7 World Airline Survey" said Plaisted, "and expect even wider coverage as more language options are offered up for online completion.

This past year, we were able to provide English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese versions to our Business Research Group members, and clearly it is going to be beneficial to extend that across many more customers for the upcoming survey."

"The range of results published in the 2006 Awards are more extensive than ever before, and I hope you will take a few minutes to explore around the different categories.

"Like so many things in life, what is good for one is not for another .... what you like, I may not - but what I hope is properly represented across the World Airline Awards is the opinion of the majority" added Plaisted.

http://www.worldairlineawards.com/Awards-2006/AirlineYear-2006.htm

Discussion (Excerpts)
ChannelNewsAsia forum
scs1
SIA.. 1st.. 4th.. 7th.....Below Top 10?
According to the Skytrax World Airlines Rankings SIA is on a downward slide... I wonder why? The rankings above were for 2004, 2005 and 2006.
In 2007 perhaps not even in the Top 10???
I know it is service ranking and all that good stuff...
But cannot help getting flashbacks. Between 2003 and Apr 2004 our local pilots were expected not to ask for foreign pilots' pay as national service.
But when earnings were down... retrenchment, and some wise spark, was quoted as saying that S'pore pilots to be retrenched first, so that SIA preserves the international industrial relation image that SIA does not treat foreign pilots unfairly. What kind of woolly thinking was that?
Foreign pilots were allowed to cherry pick their flights and take leave when they reach their home base, not so for S'pore pilots.
Pilots' services are international commodities? Why do we treat our own talents so shoddily? There is no need to be apologetic or prudish to treat our own talents just as well if not better.
Has not the management of SIA woken up after MM Lee's (Kuan Yew) retort, "Are they blind or stupid?" on being briefed about SIA management's refusal to listen to pilots' feedback.
Could it be that the morale of staff and managers is so bad that things are going down the chutes? Is it retribution of a corporation without a soul?

wuiwui
I think the rankings mean that other airlines had improved more than SIA. It is always a close fight at the top. Did SIA lose out by a lot or a little? Were their points in the ranking lower year by year? If so then it is cause for concern.

paul577
Why is SIA slipping?
I think a clue can be found in a letter to the Straits Times last week. Someone wrote in to complain about service on SIA.
A couple of days later the chief spin-doctor of SIA wrote to the ST saying that SIA would meet with the guy who complained to go through his concerns.
Meet with him? What a crock! SIA can't even be bothered to return a phone call about lost luggage as I experienced recently...and yet their public relations arm tries to go into damage control when complaints are aired publicly, as in the letter to the ST.
Otherwise you will NEVER get an adequate response from a complaint to SIA. You might get a form letter full of platitudes and assurances that SIA puts passengers first etc.
Once, after SIA had completely stuffed up an important business trip I got a box of chocolates in the mail I don't want chocolates...I want what I paid mega-dollars for.
The airline itself, in the air, is still excellent, but in my opinion it is slipping in areas of customer service (particularly ground service rather than in-flight, although in-flight is variable).
SIA needs to focus more on REAL value for PAX rather than slick marketing and PR spin in damage control if it is to get back to the top.
Cathay has zoomed past and SIA appears not to have noticed. I hope they do get back on top...it used to be a great airline.

doncha
SIA is no longer good. They only focus on its stewardesses having pleasant looks (no scar, no mole, no freckles) and must have the SIA look where the must look good in uniform.
SIA! Stop it! You should not be that crazy!! Passengers now only want good service! Not fake 1cm thick lipstick smile!
See! Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Malaysia Airline's service are getting better. These are among the top airlines!

nurinka
That's the danger of being too complacent...thinking your system is perfect, presuming that you're the best in the world, etc.
My uncle was a cabin crew for approx 30 yrs since the early 70s and his last position was as an In-flight Supervisor before he decided to accept the SIA Golden Handshake a few years ago.
He personally told me once that he could see the drop in the quality of cabin crew over the years. He related an incident where he, my aunt (ex SQ In-Flight Supervisor too) and their daughter were travelling on the staff ticket to LA, when a young cabin crew (who was barely 6 months on the job) was giving them a hard time, telling them off about their luggage in the overhead compartment etc. He was shocked at the way the cabin crew spoke to him. But being the Mr. Nice Guy that he is, he just smiled at her.
And guess what??
Three weeks later, that cabin crew was assigned to him under the same flight! She got the shock of her life when she saw my uncle's face! Naturally, she tried to suck up to him! Lucky for her, my uncle was such a Mr. Nice Guy, so he didn't even bring that incident up!
On my part, I have travelled on SQ about 15-20 times mostly in the 90s and honestly, I can't recall anything special about their service but I have to admit that their food is usually good.
However I do remember an incident where a steward actually told me off when I politely asked him to help me put my hand-carry luggage in the overhead compartment. He had the balls to say 'This is not my job!'
Unbelievable!!!
My favourite airlines are still United Air (Asian sector), SwissAir, Thai Airways and Emirates! Even the Malaysian and Garuda airline crews seem genuinely nicer!

SCS1
It is really cause for concern from 1st to 7th no matter how we analyse it.
Perhaps we should check with Skytrax.
I wonder what is their share ratings like. I would not be surprised that it is downgraded. Any stock analyst out there or investors with an opinion?

code22x
Maybe why SQ slacken is because too many nice guys/gals in there that breed complacency. I remembered reading that in the past SQ managers would take flights secretly to 'audit' the service quality, maybe now the managers are too lazy and no one wants to be the bad guys.
Also looking at SKYTRAX results. Yes, must admit that Biz & First class is very good while Eco class is not so good. In fact SQ Eco class seating space is much closer than other airlines too. And while service efficiency is 5 star, staff attitude and friendliness is only 4 stars (so-so). The problem is many airlines are catching up in terms of service quality, having nice lounges, good in-flight entertainment, quick check-in priority for business and first class.
Then again, I recently read that one strategy for airlines is to intentionally make eco class worse off to justify or make biz & first class look very luxury - because margin for biz & first class is very high.

freethinker
Do feel that SQ service standards are dropping, esp. the cabin crew attitude in Economy. However, what needs to be done more too is the ground-handling side i.e. checking-in and the staff's general "unfriendliness".

paul577
I think SIA needs a fresh approach. The Singapore girl thing is too old-hat now. People want value and service not just pretty girls in tight skirts

Right effort
The drop in services is due to the foreign talent working in SIA. You think they have loyalty towards SIA or Singapore?

cutehippo
In future, SIA will drop below 10. I wrote a comment to them two years ago saying "SQ will drop in future". I don't know if they took it seriously or not.
1. Too much cost cutting.
2. No loyalty and less benefit.
3. Low pay compare to other international airline.
4. Over work, under pay.
5. Promoted people who were clever in talking only but not hardworking.
6. Employing too many graduates who don't bother and only work short-term. Good Luck SIA.
Jun 20, 2006