Dear Editor,

The genius of Lee Kuan Yew, the first leader of Singapore after its independence in 1965, was to set up and start the airline we know now as Singapore Airlines. Arguably the top airline of SE Asia and consistently ranked the top 3 in the world. To this day, Singapore Airlines is still referred to in general as Lee’s baby.

I was fortunate enough to have flown a few of their aeroplanes before we broke off to start the airline we were hired to start, which is called Scoot Airlines. What Lee saw ahead of time was to sell the commodity, Singapore, the Independent state. He did that through the national airline that carries the country’s name, and at present the whole country’s infrastructure breathes around their national carrier, Singapore Airlines.

I left Singapore to come over in the restart of our own airline, only to be shot down by the Fiame government five years ago. That was a bad call from the former Madam PM, and sad to acknowledge that one of the aeroplanes in the past was named after her. We’ve lost five years of development, and we could’ve been somebody, but we’re still nobody. Sometimes justice deals an awkward hand. Remember the last government when that beloved airport minister was promising Samoa Airways partnership with first Emirates, Etihad and then with Singapore Airlines, and nothing happened?

I’m no politician, and I never want to be labelled with any association. It’s bad for business. Equally true, the airline should never be marketed in association with any political party other than Samoa’s airline. This is very important to be understood by both the public and the government. Any association with a political party automatically cuts business by 50 per cent. Trust the public to make the judgment of merits on their own, and I believe that is louder than any political speech.

The point of this write-up is to point out some directions where the airline SA (Samoa Airways) needs to move right now and prove that it’s a feasible undertaking. If I were doing it, I would’ve made this move straight away. Seek an audience with the Madam Minister or maybe the PM himself and solicit their blueprint of the airline going forward, what is the plan? I know the plan, but how are we going to do it?

Following that, I would call the whole airline to a meeting, don’t care if it’s Sunday after church or midnight. The purpose is two-fold: first, to establish authority, and to lay out the game plan. Second, the no tolerance approach has to be felt, and there is no misunderstanding from any employee about the way to go and what is expected of them. There are a lot of examples of poor and weak leadership within the company, starting from the top and trickling down from there. The professionalism that used to be there, that all matters of aviation are settled in the walls of that office, is now reduced to amateurs working for a paycheck, spoon-fed by a system of ignorance and neglect, lacking in both structure and direction. Simply put, they don’t know what they’re doing.

Do a study on what SMS (Safety Management System) called the ‘Management of Change’, basically a thread and errors, and a risk management exercise. An increase in the company workload fourfold is an unprecedented change. The study is not only required, but it’s also a must. This would be something the auditors will need to look into. The pilots should be doing this and hand-picking a few capable hands from other departments. The result of this study will be the blueprint of what needs to happen internally in the preparation for the aeroplane.

Set up a marketing committee and start talking. The principal goal is to market the country and the airline to potential destinations. You’ve got to sort out a starting date and have the government committed to this starting date. Auckland, Nadi, Sydney, Brisbane, Honolulu and maybe Wellington and Melbourne for the first aeroplane. There’s a girl, I think she’s now the SA chief at Faleolo, Ledwina, she has international experience as station manager in both Sydney and Auckland in the past, use her. Tosi Tupua has excellent marketing and communications skills, use him too. This committee should comprise someone from the Visitor’s Bureau and the Tourism industry. Invite other interested stakeholders, hoteliers and travel agents.  Start talking, and fundraise for trips next year. Solicit the full support of the government and the airline for what they want to do. Monthly reports to the minister to facilitate accountability, and more importantly, solicit government resources as required. A fundraiser endorsed by the government has a lot more weight behind it. The purpose of this is to get the ball rolling instead of hibernating in the office.

Unless the government has reasons to procrastinate, I’ll plan the acquisition of the new jet for Christmas next year, with the second aeroplane the following Christmas. It’s important to have a time frame so that the plan doesn’t stall as we’re witnessing right now. Also acknowledge that both Tosi and Ledwina are full-time employees of the airline, and this can be drafted as extracurricular activities. Marketing is the one area of the airline that needs an aggressive team to manage and hopefully, throughout the process, they could help recruit a suitable ‘soldier’ to take over. A public personality that knows how to think outside the box.

Set up a ‘new aeroplane committee’, this should be chaired by the CEO, and an able Manager of Flight Operations with part 121 experience, which the airline doesn’t have, and should comprise the Chief Engineer, Airport Manager and other interested parties. The purpose is to suggest areas the airline needs to improve on. I can name a dozen, but this is an exercise for them.

While that goes on, as a further publicity campaign, I’ll suggest to the government a weekly radio/ TV talk show to further clarify the UTOs initiative and then start talking about the airline in general. Identify the dos and don’ts. Talk on possible career opportunities for the young people. The need for discipline from the general public and what is expected of them on planning a trip, during the trip and upon arrival. There’s a vast array of topics to be discussed that the public are interest about, to learn and understand. The idea here is marketing and convincing the public to get involved and to be upfront with everything about the airline, but I cautioned that there are other things not privy to the public ear, i.e., deals with companies abroad that can only be given on a special condition. 

We won’t be discussing those for sure. Use the flights by Fiji Airways or, Qantas, even Air NZ, smaller aeroplanes, to simulate our own aeroplanes’ operations. Assess the no-tolerance approach and improve on it, similar to a field audit. Identify areas of weakness and improve them. These are areas the Quality and Safety department should be looking into and documenting. Write reports to avoid any misunderstanding of the consequences of the no-tolerance approach. Tough love is the name of the game going forward, as the saying goes, ‘spare the rod and spoil the child..’ No room for sentiments here, the job needs to be done one way or another.

I’ll leave it here for now in the interest of space and time. In our next instalment, we’ll be talking about bringing the airline and pilots up to speed with international requirements, leading on to the jet aeroplane. I love to talk about areas of aircraft acquisition, and I have first-hand information and various options to discuss with people dealing in that regard…

Andrew