TRIP REPORT: Intra-Asia with SilkAir (Silkair 737-800 Economy Class)

Singapore to Phuket and back with Singapore Airlines’ full-service subsidiary

BACKGROUND

This trip report will cover SilkAir’s Boeing 737-800 service to Phuket and back in economy class. The Singapore Airlines subsidiary announced its order for 23 737-800s and 31 737-8 MAXs back in August 2012, with the first 737-800 delivered in February 2014. SilkAir has been operating an all-Airbus fleet (comprising of A319s and A320s) for the past 15 years since the last 737-300 left the fleet in December 1999. I was particularly thrilled with the news on SilkAir’s 737 Next Gen order as I have been dying to fly on one of Boeing’s legendary narrow bodies, in a region dominated with LCCs, most operating Airbus’ boring A320s as their only aircraft type in their fleet. The opportunity came when I had to hop over to Phuket for a convention.

PLANNING              

Booking for this particular flight was completed a fortnight before the trip, through SilkAir’s rather user-friendly website.

SilkAir’s website was relatively easy to navigate and tickets were booked and confirmed in fewer than 5 mins.

DEPARTURE DAY

I am the type of traveller that loves to arrive extremely early at the airport to enjoy the abundance of airside amenities available at  SIN. With departure stated at 1:20pm in the afternoon, I called for a cab to fetch me from my apartment in Central Singapore at 10:30am in the morning. Rush-hour had ended about an hour ago, so it was a relatively smooth ride to the airport. I arrived at SIN’s Terminal 2 at 10:45am and proceeded to the MI check-in counters, which were adjacent to parent company SQ’s check-in facilities.

Online check-in was completed 48 hours before so it was just a case of ‘boarding pass collection’ and ‘checking-in of baggage’.

 AIRSIDE

As a testament to SIN’s efficiency, immigration was quickly (i.e: < 1 min) completed through one of the airport’s biometric gantries.

Singapore Changi is a rather huge airport in comparison to others in the region like Bangkok Suvarnabhumi or Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta, so there was plenty to do for passengers in transit. Airside operations were rather relaxed at that time of the day, giving Terminal 2 a calm outlook as I strolled through the terminal. I went to the gate to confirm whether the scheduled aircraft was operating my flight. 9V-MGA was parked there alongside her older and bigger cousin 9V-SYN, a 777-300, who was operating SQ912 to Manila from the adjacent gate that day. I thought spotting an aircraft with that registration was interesting (shout out to Yeening!), but boy was I wrong.

A walk over to Terminal 1 was necessary for an aviation enthusiast like me, due to the vast number of exotic airlines that call that terminal home base. However, I was left disappointed as the central apron was empty for a good 20mins, until a Cathay Pacific 747-467 pulled into gate D34.

Hong Kong's calling me again

Grabbed a latte from one of Changi Airport’s seven Starbucks stores and it was time to head back to Terminal 2 for boarding of my flight.

FLIGHT DETAILS

Flight Route: Singapore Changi Airport (SIN/WSSS) to Phuket International Airport (HKT/VTSB)

Flight: MI754

Aircraft Type: Boeing 737-8SA(WL)

Aircraft Registration: 9V-MGA (25th Anniversary livery)

Gate at origin: Gate E26

Gate at destination: Gate 4

Cabin: Economy

Seat: 18A

Cabin Load Factor: 80%

Scheduled flight duration: 1:45

Actual flight duration: 1:51

Changi Airport utilises a system where security would only be done at the boarding gate and not right after immigration, as it is at other major airports like HKIA and LAX. Still, it was a very quick process (shoes on, laptop and iPads off) and I was in the ‘holding pen’ in less than 5 mins. I was able to grab a shot of the sleeping beauty just before boarding.

FLIGHT PROPER :)

I was greeted at the door by one of the Leading Stewardess (clad in red, as compared to the green worn by the regular Flight Stewardess). It was interesting to note that there were 3 pilots and 7 flight attendants on this rather short hop to Phuket (we shall refer to them as TECHNICAL and CABIN crew in the rest of the trip report), which was understandable considering the need to accustom crew to the new aircraft.

I proceeded to my pre-selected seat at 18A, just above the flaps and 4 rows behind the exit row. Seat pitch was at a narrow 31” and quite sadly resembled a local Low-Cost Carrier’s seat configuration.  However, I have no complains about flying in this seat for a < 2hour flight, but would think twice before booking for flights to farther places in the future.

The regular announcements were made by both technical and cabin crew, with the former informing us of our flight route, weather at destination and cruising altitude, while the latter simply read from a script, welcoming us aboard this flight. No mention of this being a new aircraft was made at all.

Seat pocket contents.

Pushback was made at 1310 local time, 5 mins after scheduled time.

What beautiful winglets, eh?

While the aircraft was taxiing to the runway, I spotted a very interesting visitor on the active

Apologies for the bad photograph. A friend of mine at Changi Beach Park spotted her on her climb-out and took a much better photograph. His photo can be seen here: http://instagram.com/p/k87Nq_Glbq/

It was none other than B-16703, EVA Air’s 777-300ER in the Hello Kitty livery!

5mins later, my aircraft lined up on the active (runway 02C) and began her take-off roll. I was expecting to be thrown back against my seat but the take-off seemed sluggish and I could very easily sit up straight and look through the windows. I did not manage to take any photos from here on till the aircraft reached its filed cruising altitude. No, it was not because I was a law-abiding passenger, but because my camera died right after I took a photo of the Hello Kitty aircraft.

My device was revived due to the power ports available under the seat.

We levelled off at 37000 feet above sea level over Malaysian airspace, and lunch service began 35mins into the flight. The meal was served on a single tray and contained the entrée, fresh fruits, and a 130ml cup of water. A choice between ‘Yee-fu noodles with chicken in oyster sauce’ and ‘Fish with pilaf rice’ was available for Economy Class passengers, something I did not expect from SilkAir.

The noodles were tasty and definitely a good choice for an afternoon flight. The pilaf rice on the other hand, was not as tasty according to my dad. Lunch service concluded in 20mins and the cabin crew began collecting the trays from the front of the Economy Class cabin. The service did feel quite rushed considering the short duration of the flight, and the full meal service. Fly a Low-Cost Carrier and I assure it, the service will conclude in less than 10mins. The cart was pushed through the cabin after the tray collection and the cabin crew offered us tea or coffee after the meal. I was impressed with the efficiency of the SilkAir cabin crew.

A walk through the cabin was necessary for an aviation enthusiast like me. SilkAir’s 737-800s features Boeing’s Signature Sky Interior, which will ‘transform’ into different colours to suit the time of the flight. For my two hour hop to Phuket in the day, the cabin lights were blue for the full duration airborne.

DESCENT/ARRIVAL

The First Officer came on the microphone 35mins before scheduled arrival at Phuket, informing us of our imminent descent, and for the cabin crew to prepare the cabin for arrival. The cabin crew began their final checks through the cabin, collecting rubbish while thanking Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer members for flying with them. Thank you, Ms Flight Attendant.

The 15s landing video can be found here: http://instagram.com/p/lFF3rykUrj/

The landing at Phuket was a straight-in approach for runway 09, bringing us over the Andaman Sea before a sharp right turn to line up with the runway. The landing was rather rough, as you can see in the video. SilkAir 737 technical crew really need more practice, be it in the simulator or on actual flights.

With that, the flight came to an end. The aircraft used up almost three-quarters of the 3000m runway, which meant that we had to taxi for a good 5 mins to the gate assigned.

CONCLUSION

As far as I’m concerned, SilkAir is definitely a good carrier to fly for short/regional hops, such as to Phuket, Chiang Mai or destinations on the Chinese Mainland. Its new 737-800 product really impressed me, bringing a much needed change to the regular A320s operated by Low-Cost Carriers and Full-Service Carriers alike.