Singapore airlines" (SIA) roots spans as far back as to about 50 years ago, when the formerly known Malayan Airways first operated a twin-engine Airspeed Consul between Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Penang. In 1963, upon creation of the Malaysian Federation, two name changes were seen; first to Malaysian Airways and then, three years later, to Malaysia-Singapore Airlines (MSA) in respect to the carrier's joint shareholders, the governments of Malaysia and Singapore. MSA ceased operations in October 1972 and two new airlines, Malaysia Airline System (now called Malaysia Airlines) and Singapore Airlines, were born. The MSA fleet was also split and the new airline had a fleet comprising 10 aircrafts, a staff of 6,000 and a route network spanning 22 cities in 18 countries, it began using Boeing 707s for it's European routes and Boeing 737s for it's regional ones. With its 25 years of experience, Singapore Airlines immediately began to expand and modernize its fleet, setting standards of service that others could only follow. Far-sighted planning, investment and product innovation were just some of the many strategies, which propelled its growing reputation and profitability. .
Singapore Airlines operates in the airline industry from its home base in Changi Airport, Singapore. It services range from passenger and cargo transportation to its other activities, which include airport operations, kitchen operations and maintenance. Passenger transportation accounts for about half of SIA's revenues in 1998 and was the 13th largest passenger-carrying airline at that time. In terms of cargo, SIA was the 5th largest and cargo revenues constituted to about a fifth of the total revenues earned. Another one fifth of the revenues were from SIA group's interests in infrastructural facilities, which they had in about 11 airports worldwide, and the remaining were from SIA's other activities mentioned above.
