History
In July 1992, Singapore Airlines created a cargo division to complement its passenger-carrying business. However, it was not until 1 July 2001, when Singapore Airlines Cargo was incorporated, taking over the air-freight operations of Singapore Airlines as a separate subsidiary. SIA Cargo leased the entire freighter fleet from Singapore Airlines, as well as taking over management of the cargo holds in all of Singapore Airlines' passenger aircraft. Within a few months, it entered an alliance with Lufthansa Cargo and SAS Cargo Group to form WOW Alliance on 1 October 2001.
Securerider, a premium product for secured shipments was launched on 7 January 2002, including services such as Swiftrider, Timerider and Coolrider targeting general shipments, heavy shipments, and temperature-sensitive cargo, respectively.
The airline garnered its first award as an all-cargo airline by winning the "Best Global Air Cargo Carrier" and "Best Air Cargo Carrier - Asia" at the Asian Freight Industry Awards (AFIA) in 2002, an award the parent company, Singapore Airlines, had already won eight times consecutively. It was named as the "Best Airfreight Carrier" in the inaugural Hong Kong-based Asia Logistics Awards in the same year.
New routes were introduced in the next few years as the airline began to take advantage of liberalised aviation agreements. A round-the-world service was introduced on 31 October 2001, flying from Singapore to Hong Kong, Dallas, Chicago, Brussels, Sharjah, and back to Singapore on Wednesdays, and on the Singapore, Hong Kong, Dallas, Chicago, Brussels, Mumbai, Singapore route on Fridays. It became the first third-country freighter airline to fly direct between China and the United States on 22 May 2003 when flights commenced from Singapore to Xiamen, Nanjing and onwards to Chicago. Return flights are operated from Chicago and Los Angeles to Nanjing.
Read more about this topic: Singapore Airlines Cargo
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