The director of Manpower from MINDEF has replied to a Straits Times forum letter by one Sean Lim Wei Xin, published on Nov. 26, who questioned why Singapore Armed Forces officers fly business class to exercises.

Flying business class to exercises

In the letter, Lim shared two anecdotes of his acquaintances travelling in business class to an overseas military exercise.

The first involved an army officer while the second involved a junior NSF officer.

From these observations, he concluded:

"It seems that commissioned officers, whether regulars or NSFs, get to enjoy the privilege of travelling in business class for overseas missions."

Questioning the reasons for doing so

Lim questioned the reasons for this arrangement, and was curious to know the justification.

He brought up some possible reasons and considerations for his observations.

These included officers requiring the privacy to work on sensitive documents, or the fact that the officers forked out their own money for a seat upgrade.

Lim acknowledged the argument that officers "deserve" to travel on business class because they serve the country.

But he also raised another important question:

"If that is the basis, then all soldiers should travel on business class too since their contributions are not insignificant either."

MINDEF: Business class seats not specified as requirement in tenders

In response to Mothership queries, MINDEF explained that competitive tenders for chartered flights provide the "most cost efficient form of mass travel" for large numbers of soldiers travelling overseas for exercises.

This is because they cost less than purchasing individual economy seats on commercial flights.

MINDEF clarified that business class seats "are not specified as a requirement in these tenders".

However, some planes do include business class seats, at "no added cost to the SAF".

It added that these were the business class seats that Lim was referring to in his letter.

Full MINDEF statement:

MINDEF’s reply, published in The Straits Times Forum Page on Nov.29, as follows:

1. We refer to Mr Sean Lim Wei Xin’s letter, 'Why do SAF officers fly business class to exercises?', published on 26 Nov 2019.

2. To cater for the large numbers of soldiers travelling overseas for exercises, competitive tenders for chartered flights provide the most cost efficient form of mass travel as they cost less than purchasing individual economy seats on commercial flights. Business class seats are not specified as a requirement in these tenders but some planes provided do include business class seats, at no added cost to the SAF. These were the business class seats referred to in Mr Lim’s letter.

3. We thank Mr Lim for this opportunity to clarify.

Top photo by Angela Lim & Jason Fan.

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