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SINGAPORE – For eight-year-old Isabelle Chan and her six-year-old sister Natalya, the highlight of their Inside Singapore Airlines (SIA) tour was when they were able to serve their mother food and drinks while wearing SIA’s iconic sarong kebaya.
The two girls were among the 500 participants who secured space for the first session of the tour, which took place on Saturday (November 21).
His mother, Ms. Rowena Chan, said: “I thought it would be nice for them to have the opportunity to experience it behind the scenes.
“I don’t think this is normally open to the public, and since there was an opportunity, I decided to go ahead and reserve this experience for them,” added the 44-year-old executive assistant.
The girls donned the kebaya pareo and learned customer service skills from the SIA hostesses as part of the Junior Cabin Crew Experience, one of the additional options of the tour program, which gives visitors a glimpse into the SIA training center in Changi.
A basic tour ticket to the center, which is normally closed to the public, costs $ 30 for those 12 and older, and $ 15 for children ages three to 12, excluding GST.
The Junior Cabin Crew Experience costs $ 88, excluding GST, and includes SIA’s sarong kebaya.
The national airline is operating four sessions of the Inside SIA tour over two weekends, on Saturday and Sunday (November 22), as well as November 28 and 29.
Each session has a maximum capacity of 500 people.
More than 20,000 people had expressed interest in the tour, SIA CEO Goh Choon Phong said.
“We are going to focus on making sure that whoever visits us has a great experience,” he added.
Despite the overwhelming response, he said the airline has no plans to open further sessions for now.
As part of the tour, participants can see pilot and cabin crew training, such as emergency situations when the plane lands in water, as well as craft activities such as sculpting balloons.
One of the most recent SIA training kits was on display, simulating situations where the aircraft lands on water. The large metal container resembles part of a cabin.
It is expected to be commissioned and used for training starting next year.
The airline also launched a new range of dishes on Saturday for flights of less than 3.5 hours in economy class.
Rotating food options include Singapore favorites such as laksa and mee siam, previously unavailable in economy class, SIA said.
The airline has also replaced its plastic serving tableware with a new packaging solution, including a bamboo cutlery pack and a leak-proof paper box for all budget short-haul flights.
This means that the airline can now serve soup and other liquid items, which the previous dinnerware could not accommodate.
Additionally, the airline said the new serving dishes reduce the amount of single-use plastics in the food tray by 80 percent, based on the weight of the items.
There are other benefits, the airline said.
Leftovers from the tray, including serving dishes, will be taken back to Sats’ facilities in Singapore and turned into pellets that can be used as alternative fuel.
On-site waste processing reduces approximately 60 percent of restoration waste as well as emissions from waste transport to the incinerator.
The lighter paper packaging also helps reduce fuel consumption on flights, SIA noted.
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