Hermann Freidanck, the food and beverage director of Singapore Airlines
Late last year, three world-renowned wine experts gathered in a nondescript, windowless room at Changi Airport in Singapore. For two days, they methodically worked their way through some 400 unmarked bottles of Champagne, Chardonnay, Cabernet and Merlot from around the world, pausing only to record scores on a 20-point scale. The test was one that required not only a trained palate but also a certain imagination. The judges had already sampled wines in a pressurized room that replicates the taste-deadening conditions at 30,000 ft., so they knew to choose softer, fruitier wines. After six bottles had been chosen, their foil coverings were removed, and even the labels were judged. "The wine has to taste good. It also has to be perceived as good," said judge Anthony Dias Blue, wine and spirits editor of Bon Appetit magazine. All six of the selected wines passed the label test, and their makers were richly rewarded: the host of the contest,
Singapore Airlines (SIA), will spend $9.4 million this year on wine and spirits. And SIA is giving no thought to cutting back.
Amid a global slump for full-service airlines, with U.S. and European carriers going bankrupt and slashing staff, flights and passenger amenities, Singapore Air is flying resolutely and profitably against the wind. It is bringing its fine wines--and its lobster thermidor, its flat-opening sleeper seats and its famous Singapore Girls--to an airport near you. SIA's recent expansion to 45 U.S. flights a week is great news for the cadre of U.S. business travelers who can pay extra to fly what many consider the world's best airline. But it's a blow to the likes of American Airlines, Delta and United. How will they compete with Singapore's government-owned cocoons in the sky?
For years, Singapore Air has served both coasts of the U.S., through airports in Newark, N.J., New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco. But in the past 18 months, it has added flights to two interior cities, Chicago and Las Vegas. And at the end of this year, it will launch the first-ever nonstop commercial flight from the U.S. to Singapore when it starts running a new Airbus 340-500 wide-body from Los Angeles. For the first time, the airline is marketing its Atlantic flights (including Chicago-Amsterdam and New York City--Frankfurt, Germany) as heavily as its Pacific ones. And for good reason: last year it was named best airline from the U.S. to Europe by Conde Nast Traveler's Business Travel Survey--the first year that it was in the running. Singapore Air has already won the magazine's coveted designation as best international airline for 14 of the past 15 years.
Rather than rest on those rankings or trim passenger amenities as its U.S. rivals are doing, Singapore Air plans to spend $100 million by June to improve its business cabins, mainly by adding beds on every long-haul plane in the fleet. Despite these investments--and unlike most of its competitors--government-backed SIA is making good money. Profit of $358 million made it the second most profitable passenger airline in the world in 2001, behind only Southwest Airlines ($511 million). For the six months ending last September, the latest period reported, profit was $443 million (at least by the unique accounting standards in Singapore).