SilkAir to showcase inflight service on buses
By Ven Sreenivasan
Sept 23, 2006
The Business Times
THE next time you clamber into an SBS Transit bus, you may find
yourself in the next-best thing to a SilkAir flight, with smiling
stewardesses offering you coffee, cakes and newspapers. You'll hear
'in-cabin' music, sit on Thai silk seats and listen to
announcements welcoming you 'on-board'.
The regional airline has just launched a $100,000 marketing
campaign which involves dressing up six buses - both from outside
and inside - to resemble SilkAir planes. While all the buses will
have their exteriors sporting mini aircraft wings, tailfins and
SilkAir colours, two will also have their interiors completely
refurbished to resemble SilkAir's cabin's - right down to the
carpets, upholstered silk seats, boarding music and even
refreshments.
'We embarked on this campaign to bring a bit of fun and flavour to
what could otherwise be a boring morning bus ride to work,' said
Mike Barclays, SilkAir's chief executive. 'But more importantly,
this is designed to give potential customers a flavour of SilkAir,
our warm and attentive service culture.'
The two 'full-service' buses - on which passengers will not have to
pay fares - will run for a month, but under the marketing deal with
SBS Transit all six buses will continue to ply the roads for the
next four months. This is the third major marketing campaign
SilkAir has embarked upon after its campaigns with the MRT and
taxis.
At a press conference following a specially arranged media ride on
the 'SilkAir buses' yesterday, Mr Barclays also unveiled a $1.5
million revamp of the airline's website.
The upgraded website, which will be officially launched next week,
offers new user-friendly features which enable interline
cross-bookings with parent Singapore Airlines, allow 'open-jaw'
itineraries (where passengers can fly to one destination, then fly
back from another), and even do online check-ins.
Mr Barclays said that while travel agents will remain an integral
and important part of SilkAir's ticketing distribution system, the
airline was also intent on increasing its online bookings ratio
from 1-in-8 now to 1-in-4 by the end of next year.
SilkAir, voted the best regional airline in the world by various
travel polls, flew 45 per cent more passengers during the first
eight months. The airline, which flies to 25 destinations and is
poised to order 20 new planes for its re-fleeting programme,
currently enjoys a passenger load factor of over 70 per cent,
compared to just over 60 per cent last year.
