OUTWITHTHEOLD

In May I travelled on Singapore Airlines (SQ) and its sister airline Silk Air, and

I must say that the recent experiences certainly lowered my opinion of both carriers. While I understand that Silk Air will fully merge with SQ, in the meantime there appears to be quite a number of old and frankly grotty aircraft in the sky.

For example, travelling from Perth to Singapore (SQ266) in economy on May 2, the aircraft was old and came complete with poor in-flight entertainment, old and unresponsive controls along with the most uncomfortable and worn-out seat. Looking around the aircraft at other seats, it seems I was not the only one suffering.

To my horror the connecting flight on Silk Air (MI966) to Shenzhen the next day was even worse – the seats bore clear signs of

wear and tear, with tatty, fraying edges complete with black grime, and again limited in-flight entertainment via a woeful app.

Hoping to get past all of this on my return flight (SQ223) on May 6, I was able to use points to upgrade to business class. Sadly, while the service was nice enough, it was again an ageing aircraft with lots of visible grime, and the seat next to me even had part of the side secured with sticky tape – I am not joking.

I can’t imagine why SQ would want to tarnish its reputation with such poor quality. I hear that some new aircraft are being introduced to the route and hopefully any new planes will sideline the old and SQ can focus on rebuilding their reputation.

On a positive note, recent travels with Cathay Pacific between Perth and Hong Kong have been delightful, excellent aircraft and service, as per usual, and the new A350 is superb in all classes. Anthony Arrigo, China