When one looks back on a airline's history there is usually one or two mergers that helped to increase the company's importance. For Singapore Airlines it was actually a break-up that started what would become one of the major airlines in the world! When Malaysia-Singapore Airlines split-up in 1972 (upcoming MSA 737 "LS"), Singpore retained the ex-MSA 707's and 737's (while Malaysia retained the F-27's), it's first aircraft order as Singapore Airlines would be the type most associated with the airline, the 747.The first 747-212B's arrived in the summer of 1973 and were placed on the Singapore-Tokyo route. Singapore Airlines first color scheme of Yellow and Blue window stripes with a Blue tail and stylized Bird in Yellow, would remain unchanged until 1988. Initially, Singapore Airlines had trouble obtaining traffic rights from other governments, eventually overcome through bilateral agreements. Eventually 90% of the airlines's traffic revenue would be produced from the 747! Just about every 747 model would be acquired including; 747-200's,-300 and -300F's, "Big Tops", "Megatops" and "Mega Ark's". Singapore did have a few 'Miss-hits' in it's fleet during the 1980's; (5) factory-delivered DC-10-30's (1979-83/84) (4) 757-212's (1984-89/90)and (8) A300's (1981/82-85).
Sadly for 747SP enthusiasts, the one 747 model that they never acquired but came very close to was the "SP", when traffic rights were granted in 1978 from Singapore to San Francisco via Hong Kong and Honolulu. Singapore's competition on this new route was Pan American's 747SP's. An airline executive at the time stated; "We had to decide whether we wanted to do the same[as Pan Am], which would have meant buying SP's". In the end the decision was made to stay with the -212B's, as even the "long-legged SP was sometimes payload-limited to well below it's seating capacity on the San Francisco-Hong Kong sector, while the newer 820,000lb standard 747's promised a very substantial payload, including freight, on a one-stop Pacific crossing". We almost had the chance to see the Singapore Airlines 747SP..........John3