History
Singapore's strategic location on the routes from Europe to the Far East, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, traversing the Middle East and India, made it an ideal centre to serve the region in aviation. In 1930, the RAF-owned Seletar Airbase was opened to commercial aircraft.
On 11 February 1930, the Dutch Airline Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij (KLM) operated the first service flight between Amsterdam and Batavia (since renamed Jakarta), landing in Seletar with a Dutch-made tri-engine monoplane carrying 8 passengers and a cargo of fresh fruit, flowers and mail. This marked the beginning of commercial civil aviation in Singapore. KLM later introduced a regular Amsterdam to Batavia flight service in late-1931.
Two years later, in July 1933, Imperial Airways, the flagship airline of the British empire at the time, started a service between London and Darwin via Cairo, Karachi, Calcutta, Singapore and Jakarta. This service was later extended to Brisbane and operated jointly with Qantas Empire Airways on 17 December 1934.
Booming commercial aviation traffic led to congestion at the existing Seletar Airbase (today's Seletar Airport), creating a need for a new airport. On August 31, 1931, Sir Cecil Clementi, then Governor of the Straits Settlements, announced that Kallang Basin would be the location for the new civil aerodrome suitable for land planes and seaplanes, and relieving Seletar of commercial flight activities.
Looking into the future, I expect to see Singapore become one of the largest and most important airports of the world ... It is, therefore, essential that we should have here, close to the heart of the town, an aerodrome which is equally suitable for land planes and for sea planes; and the best site, beyond all question, is the Kallang Basin.
Sir Cecil Clementi, Governor of the Straits Settlements, August 31, 1931.Read more about this topic: Kallang Airport
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