Today, Wednesday 30 May, marks the third anniversary of SilkAir’s service between Singapore and Cairns. SilkAir is the regional wing of Singapore Airlines (SIA).
Cairns Airport Chief Commercial Officer – Aviation, Paul McLean, congratulated SilkAir, saying their Cairns service has gone from strength to strength over the past three years.
“SilkAir currently operate five return services per week. The flights offer international visitors from Asia and Europe convenient access to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef,” Mr McLean said.
“Thousands of local people have also taken advantage of the service to fly to Singapore and beyond without having to travel south from Cairns only to fly north again”
Singapore Airlines recently announced that SilkAir will be merged into Singapore Airlines after undergoing a major cabin upgrade, including lie-flat seats in business class and the installation of seat-back in-flight entertainment systems in both business and economy classes.
The upgrades are expected to start in 2020 and the merger will take place once a sufficient number of aircraft have been upgraded.
“When the Singapore – Cairns service operates under the globally recognised Singapore Airlines brand there will be more consistent products and services across the group’s full-service network, while international visitors and locals will still have the option of seamless travel to and from Tropical North Queensland from Europe and Asia that they can currently enjoy with SilkAir,” Mr McLean said.
The Singapore Airlines and SilkAir networks combined offer 102 destinations in 34 countries. SilkAir currently operates a fleet of 11 Airbus A320-family aircraft and 22 Boeing 737-800 MAX 8 aircraft. It is now transitioning to an all-737 fleet. They fly to 49 destinations in 16 countries.
