Singapore Airlines Group collaborates on crisis response plan

As part of Singapore’s efforts to strengthen its national resilience, the Ministry of Health (MOH), Public Service Department (PSD) and Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group have partnered through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

The partnership builds on cooperation during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and aims to strengthen workforce planning and deployment for future national crises.

The program focuses on training Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Scoot flight attendant volunteers to prepare them for diverse medical support roles as part of Singapore’s national crisis response.

Initiatives listed in the MOU

The trilateral MOU signifies strong cooperation in two key areas. The first step is the peacetime training and volunteer assignment of flight attendants who play support care roles.

A tabletop exercise will then be conducted to stress test the crisis response protocols. The MOU was formally signed by key representatives.

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Mr. Tran Yen Kit, Permanent Secretary (Health), Ministry of Health; Mr Teoh Zsin Woon, PSD Permanent Secretary (Development); SIA Chief Executive Officer Goh Choon Phong;

SIA Group’s important role during the COVID-19 pandemic

During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, SIA Group demonstrated a commendable commitment to national service.

With redundancies resulting from reduced operations, SIA and Scoot worked closely with the Ministry of Health and PSD to redeploy more than 2,000 staff to frontline roles across a range of public sector and healthcare organizations.

Of these, more than 900 flight attendants served as care ambassadors and supported patient care at medical institutions.

This strategic placement of SIA and Scoot staff extends to roles such as Transport Ambassador, Contact Tracing Executive, and Social Services Administrative Officer.

Thanks to the adaptability of its crew, SIA Group was able to recover quickly when borders reopened and crisis response was suspended.

Learning from experience: future crisis response

Drawing valuable insights from the pandemic experience, MOH, PSD and SIA Group have worked together to build a partnership to speed up and coordinate action in the event of a new national crisis.

This proactive approach aims to streamline the process of deploying redundant personnel to critical roles during emergencies.

SIA Group Ambassador

As part of Singapore’s crisis response cooperation, the SG Healthcare Unit will oversee the training and deployment of approximately 50 SIA and Scoot flight attendants.

These dedicated individuals will volunteer as SIA Group Ambassadors at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital and Changi General Hospital from April 2024. SIA Group Ambassadors will join approximately 200 trained SG Healthcare Corps care volunteers to collectively support healthcare professionals in meeting patient needs. .

Mr. Chan Yen Kit, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health (Health) “While the Ministry of Health continues to develop the medical workforce, the SG Healthcare Corps strengthens the resilience of the health system in peacetime and in future crises,” he stressed.

This sentiment resonated with Mr. Teoh Zsin Woon, PSD Permanent Secretary (Development) The MoU highlights this as a successful public-private partnership that will strengthen peacetime collaboration and ensure preparedness for future challenges.

Mr. Goh Choon Phong, Chief Executive Officer, SIA; He acknowledged SIA Group’s redundancy during the pandemic and emphasized the positive effects of redeployment.

He praised their warm and caring personalities, professionalism and dedication to customer service, and formalizing the partnership through an MOU establishes a pathway for seamless redeployment in similar situations. said.

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