Singapore Airlines is the official national airline of Singapore, and the world's second largest carrier by market value. It has a presence in most parts of Asia Pacific and Australasia as well as significant operations in Europe and North America. It commenced operations in 1947 and is one of only five airlines to receive a 'five-star' rating by Skytrax. Singapore Airlines enjoyed significant growth during the 1970s, particularly in the Indian subcontinent and Asia creating a 22-city network, and adding Boeing 747s to its fleet. The 1980s saw the addition of the USA, Canada, and several European cities to the airline's routes. Services were added to Africa in the 1990s, when the airline started flights to Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

Singapore Airlines flies to five destinations in Australia, namely Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. In 2004, Singapore Airlines began long-haul flights from Singapore to Los Angeles International Airport in California and Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey. This marked the first ever non-stop air service between Singapore and the USA, using Airbus A340-500 aircraft. The Singapore to Newark flight currently holds the record as the longest commercial flight in the history of aviation, with a flying time of approximately 18 hours between Singapore and Newark and 20 hours on the way back.

In 2005, Singapore Airlines unveiled the slogan "First to fly the A380 - experience the difference in 2006", to promote itself as the world's first airline to take delivery of the A380-800 double-decker super jumbo, which was expected to occur in the 2nd quarter of 2006 but has since been pushed back to later in the year. Singapore Airlines was the first airline to offer free headsets and drinks. Its reputation for service quality has made it the world's most awarded airline to date. Singapore Airlines has an in-flight entertainment system, KrisWorld, which screens the latest movies and includes Nintendo games. Each seat has it own personal television. Krisworld has recently been upgraded in all classes to feature On-demand video and audio, where each user can select any particular film or television programme from the considerably large in-flight library at any time, and can pause, rewind and fast forward through it from their in seat video controller and personal screen.

Singapore Airlines has been around for 60 years and can trace its roots back to when a Malayan Airways aircraft left Singapore's Kalang Airport en route to Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Penang on 1 May 1947. This thrice-weekly jaunt is how the airline got its wings, acquired more aircraft and subsequently growing to become one of the biggest and most respected airlines in the world. The carrier has gone through a few names to get to the simple moniker of Singapore Airlines. Having begun operations under the title of Malayan Airways Limited Airspeed Consul, when the federation of Malaysia was born on 16 September 1963, the airline was renamed Malaysian Airways Limited. Three years later, to include the city-state of Singapore, the name was again changed to Malaysia-Singapore Airlines.

Up until this point, the airline used a variety of aircraft for its flights. There were Fokker F27s, Vickers Viscount and a DC-4 Skymaster among other aircraft. In 1972, when the company split into two separate entities - Singapore Airlines and the Malaysian Airline System, Singapore Airlines took advantage of the situation and began to purchase Boeing planes. The new face of Singapore Airlines was that of modernity and a fleet of Boeing 747 jets was acquired and a new freight terminal and hangar for the 747s was constructed.

Singapore likes its planes big. In the 1980s, Singapore Airlines became the first airline in the world to use an Airbus A300 Superbus, and also used Boeing 747-300 and B757s. The next decade saw more ambitious purchases of behemoth aircraft and by 2000, with the order of 19 A380s from Airbus, the airline now has one of the largest and most modern fleets in the world. Anyone who has taken a flight with Singapore Airlines knows that there is no corners cut when it comes to service. Whether you're first class or economy, the in-flight entertainment system is superb and will pass the time of any long-haul flight with ease. The airline boasts decent food and free drinks as well. Singapore Airlines was actually the first airline to start a free drinks service.