Tuesday April 12, 5:25 PM

PRESS RELEASE:Silkair`s Passenger Load Crossed 1M Last FY

Following is a press release from Singapore Airlines Ltd. (S55.SG) on its SilkAir unit:

In spite of a highly competitive operating landscape, SilkAir coolly notched up its highest ever passenger numbers in a single year since its inception in 1989. 1,089,190 passengers flew with SilkAir for the year ending 31 March 2005, up 22.3% over FY 03/04.

``The higher passenger load factors are boosted by the strong rebound in global travel,`` said David Lim, Vice President Commercial, SilkAir.

``However, that more passengers are choosing to fly with us than ever before, regardless of the choices available, is indeed vindication that the investments we have made in a wide range of service areas including on-board service, flight frequencies and network connections are paying dividends,`` he added.

A full-service network carrier, SilkAir currently operates services to and from 26 exotic destinations in Indonesia, China, Cambodia, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore.

It was voted Best Regional Airline, Asia & China for the fifth time in 2004 by readers of two of Asia Pacific`s leading travel publications, TTG Asia and TTG China. It also earned the honour of being ranked leading Asian carrier in the `Leisure Travel - Short Haul category` in Conde` Nast Traveller`s Readers` Travel Awards 2004.

SilkAir is the first Asian carrier to offer handheld portable video-on-demand (VOD) inflight entertainment in the form of the digEplayer 5500. This is currently available on flights to China and India.