If anyone asks me to name a country in this region that stands out for its futuristic thinking and ability to achieve its goals, then the only country that comes to my mind is Singapore. The island state that has been independent for just over five decades has achieved success that has surpassed the expectations of many historians and possibly even the founding fathers of the nation. From being a small island in the Malaysian Peninsula that relied heavily on the mainland, to being self-dependent and overtaking its neighbours in every way possible, today Singapore stands as the epitome of what will and determination can do for a nation.
In the 53 years since it gained independence, Singapore stands out as the region’s port facilities and financial hub. Its educational institutions are rated among the top in the world, its airline rated among the elite too. The list could go on.
Umesh Pandey is Editor, Bangkok Post.
The island state has also managed to make a mark on the world map by hosting the annual Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix since 2007, one of the world’s few F1 races to take place on a street circuit. It’s an occasion that that has since become a time of festivity in the country.
To add to this is the biennial airshow that the city state holds in what it likes to dub as Asia’s largest such event. Aircraft makers, whether of fighter jets, commercial or cargo planes, congregate to showcase their state-of-the-art equipment be it for the art of war or commerce.
This year the event was held from Feb 6-9. giving the who’s who of the aviation industry a chance to mingle with those looking to make costly purchases. The full details of this year’s airshow will likely be known in a few days but if the airshow in 2016 was the benchmark then we can expect there to have been more than 1,000 participating companies from up to 50 countries. Close to 50,000 trade visitors from more than 140 countries were expected to grace the event. This would almost certainly have led to deals being struck.
These numbers are good for a country that is aiming to be the hub for everything in the region, but does Singapore realise the fact that in its quest for glory it is also shooting itself in the foot?
Changi, which Singapore prides itself as having been the world’s best airport over the past few years, handles more than 62 million passengers annually, which is about 170,000 per day or about 7,102 passengers every hour. And if we break it down further, it’s handles 118 passengers every minute.
This does not include the fact that Changi is also the commercial hub for goods from across the world heading east or west between Australia and Europe.
This means that Changi is the heartbeat of regional aviation, and any delays can have a domino effect.
Well, delays are what happened over the past few days in Singapore.
On my latest trip to the city state, the aircraft that I was to go with sat on the runway in Bangkok for about 90 minutes with the explanation given that the delay was due to the airshow. We then had to circle for an additional 45 minutes before landing — again blamed on the airshow.
If this was not bad enough, on the way back the flight was also delayed, this time by more than four hours. Why? Well, as one might expect during an airshow, a fighter jet from South Korea had skidded off the runway and blown up in flames. All flights in and out of Changi were delayed.
If this all happened in isolation, I could be more forgiving, but as soon as I landed in Singapore staff were on hand to rush people to connecting flights that had also been held back because of the delays. The same thing happened in Bangkok when I landed in the wee hours of Feb 7.
Nobody in the aircraft was happy and complaints could be heard all over. Maybe those complaints did not reach the ears of those organising the airshow but what the authorities in Singapore should realise is that they don’t need to be the ‘hub’ of everything. If the city state wants to be the hub of aviation it does not need to be the hub of industry deals too. It should instead concentrate on what it is really good at — handling heavy volumes of passengers and keeping them happy.
Maybe the deal-making part of the airshows can be allowed to go to some other country in the region, after all Singapore has very little to gain from such deals. However, the inconvenience that it causes is a nuisance to passengers who may or may not know that this is biennial event.
Umesh Pandey is Bangkok Post Editor
