Singapore Airlines celebrates its golden anniversary in the UK

Fifty years ago, Singapore Airlines began its long history with the UK when the first flight jetted between London and Singapore.

Initially operating three times weekly, the journey in 1971 took almost 18 hours as the aircraft made stops in Rome, Bahrain and Mumbai (then known as Bombay) on its way from London Heathrow to Singapore.

The route was the airline’s first transcontinental service and its launch was celebrated with the largest halfhour fireworks display ever to be staged in Britain at the time, with 10 million viewers seeing it on television in colour.

Six years after the first flight from London, Singapore Airlines entered the UK history books again by becoming one of only four airlines to operate Concorde when a joint Concorde service between London and Singapore, via Bahrain, was launched in 1977, taking nine hours.

The airline was also the first to fly the A380 superjumbo in October 2007, bringing it to London as the aircraft’s second destination in March 2008, and in 2012, SIA increased its London Heathrow schedule to four flights daily.

As part of 50-year anniversary celebrations SIA has partnered with Feast Box to create a culinary adventure.

Available until July 4, each week customers can order specially curated dishes inspired by Singapore Airlines and some of its most popular southeast Asian destinations, including two newly created and limited-edition Singaporean specialities.

The cook-at-home kits are available to purchase via feastbox.co.uk with delivery across the UK, and include a Singapore Airlines discount code of up to £100 to redeem on a future flight booking.

singaporeair.com