Airlines around the world are looking for innovative new ways to raise cash during these tough times. For example, we’ve seen Singapore Airlines introduce several initiatives, ranging from an A380 restaurant on the ground, to at-home delivery of its premium inflight meals.
Well, the airline is now introducing a new long term initiative that it hopes will generate revenue for years to come.
In this post:
The new Singapore Airlines Academy
Singapore Airlines has created a new division called Singapore Airlines Academy, which will offer training programs to external businesses and organizations. Areas of training include:
- Service excellence
- Operational excellence
- Organizational innovation
- Digital transformation
As it’s described, Singapore Airlines Academy will leverage the wide range of globally recognized skills and competencies that the airline has, and will also tap into the decades of experience that have been accumulated by Singapore Airlines staff.
Training packages can be customized to meet the requirements of individual companies and organizations, and will be conducted by SIA trainers, who are certified instructors and facilitators with front-line experience.
The airline first began offering external courses in September 2020, when it collaborated with Singapore-based Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) for its patient care officers. The airline performed a three day course that included topics like interpersonal communication, customer handling, and learning how to exemplify values such as empathy, warmth, and care.
As Vanessa Ng, Singapore Airlines’ SVP of Human Resources, describes this new business opportunity:
“SIA receives many requests from organisations wanting to know how we have attained our reputation for industry-leading service and operational excellence, and to better understand how we achieved our successful digital transformation.
Our focus on people development and investment in training has been key to achieving these world-class standards. We are happy to share our competencies by offering specialised training programmes to external organisations. This would also allow us to contribute to Singapore’s national goal of reskilling and upskilling the country’s workforce.
The Singapore Airlines Academy is also a strategic move for the SIA Group, and has the potential to add a new source of revenue in the coming years.”
What kind of courses are being offered?
While courses can be customized, Singapore Airlines Academy does have some recommended programs.
For example, there are several different service excellence programs, and one of those is about handling challenging customers:
- This is a 16 hour course over two days
- This is targeted at frontline staff and team leads
- The learning outcomes are displaying warmth and empathy in interactions, responding tactfully and politely in difficult situations, applying conflict de-escalation techniques, and building customer loyalty with effective service recovery options
There are also a couple of innovation & digital programs, and one of those is an innovation program and playbook:
- This is an eight hour course over two days
- This is targeted at staff working with change initiatives, products, and services
- The learning outcomes are identifying key values and behaviors to build an innovation culture for the organization, developing action plans for leading innovation culture change programs, learning best practices to support your staff in the journey of change, and designing your own leadership practice for supporting staff in innovation work
Bottom line
Singapore Airlines is known around the world for its great service, so this seems like a pretty smart way for the airline to generate revenue.
I’ll be curious to see if Singapore Airlines has success with the concept. While certain best practices are the same across industries, I have to imagine there are some limits to that.
I could think of an airline or two that could use Singapore Airlines’ help when it comes to service. 😉
What do you make of the new Singapore Airlines Academy concept?
Great move.....Are the courses online?
I wish Air Canada sent its entire staff to this program.
If Trumper took such course, he would have won re-election by a landslide. Most of his disapproval rating is because of his tongue and tweets. Bidener knows how to hold his tongue so he will win by a landslide.
While this is an excellent idea the approach of the organization, company, etc. has to be taken into account. Singapore Airlines is similar to a Neiman Marcus/Saks Fifth Avenue experience - unfortunately most US Airlines operate like TJ Maxx. It's very difficult and usually fails if implementing Neiman Marcus service with a TJ Maxx support struture.
The relevant question is WHERE are the programs being offered?
China Airlines has been offering such course for over 10 years. Customers range from government, to banks, to schools.
Pretty useless.