Singapore Airlines is ranked as the second largest international airline, according to the Bounce 2023 report.
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Singapore Airlines has changed its rules for wearing seat belts in flight and changed at least one flight route following Tuesday’s turbulence incident that led to an emergency landing in Bangkok.
The airline will no longer provide hot drinks and meal services when the seat belt sign is up, as part of its new “more cautious approach” to turbulence, it said in a statement to CNBC .
“SIA will continue to review our processes, as the safety of our passengers and crew is of the utmost importance,” he said.
The airline added that crew would continue to secure loose items and equipment and advise passengers to return to their seats and wear seat belts.
The interior of Singapore Airline Flight SQ321 is pictured after an emergency landing at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, May 21, 2024.
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Tuesday’s London-Singapore Boeing 777-300ER flight SQ321, carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew, was forced to divert to Bangkok after encountering severe turbulence over Myanmar, causing passengers and crew to be thrown the crew in the cabin.
The daily route has since remained in service, but flight data shows it diverted to the part of Myanmar where the turbulence occurred.
According to FlightRadar 24, the airline’s two flights since the incident have flown over southern Myanmar, over the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The airline did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the changes.
A 73-year-old British man died of a suspected heart attack in Tuesday’s incident. Another 104 passengers were injured, a press officer at Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital in Bangkok told The Associated Press.
As of Thursday, around 20 passengers were still in intensive care with head and spinal injuries, the hospital director said at a news conference, according to AP. Singapore Airlines said in a separate statement that a total of 44 passengers and two crew members remained in hospital.
Turbulence-related incidents are the most common type of accident among commercial airlines, according to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. This covers major US airlines, as well as cargo planes and regional carriers.
Serious injuries from turbulence are rare, however, with 163 cases recorded between 2009 and 2022, including 129 crew members, according to the NTSB.
The Aviation Safety Network has recorded seven incidents involving Singapore Airlines, with the last fatal accident on one of the company’s flights dating back to October 2000, when 83 people were killed when the plane crashed into construction equipment at Taipei Main Airport.
— CNBC’s Sophie Kiderlin contributed to this report.
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