Legendary SIA flight attendant retires after 46 years, daughter shares how he juggled being a good father & flying all the time

Six-year-old Amanda Ng often sat next to her mother as they called her father at a hotel somewhere in the world — New York City, London, Tokyo, and the like.

“Come, time to call Papa,” was something she was used to hearing, just as she was used to saying, “Where are you now, Papa?”

Her father, Ng Yak Keng, worked as a flight steward for Singapore Airlines (SIA), and it was normal to see him leaving with a suitcase in tow every few days.

Despite the time apart, the father-daughter pair still managed to build a strong and affectionate bond.

So much so that when Ng retired at 67 — after 46 years with SIA and as one of their longest-serving flight attendants — Amanda was determined to tell his story.

She first pitched the story to the media in July before he officially retired. When that didn’t work out due to logistics, she turned to her personal social media, where she posted a series featuring her father’s last flight and his thoughts on retirement.

The videos resonated, garnering over 200,000 views and drawing heartfelt comments from past colleagues and passengers about Ng’s stellar service and funny nature.

Many fondly recounted working on Ng's crew for flights while some passengers recognised him from past flights.

I finally caught up with the pair in September, after Ng officially retired.

The first thing I noticed when I met them was that they spoke to each other like best friends, bantering with ease.

Amanda helped Ng prepare for the interview with refreshing candour and a typical daughterly touch, telling him to just “be himself.”

Life as a daughter of a flight attendant

As someone who also grew up with her father often away, I was curious: how did Amanda and Ng navigate their relationship in the face of his hectic schedule?

Ng explained that he tries to be around when he can — but if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen.

It may sound uncaring to outsiders, but to the Ng family, this was their normal.

Because flight schedules are released monthly, they couldn’t plan in advance for birthdays or holiday celebrations. But this didn’t bother them.

“A lot of people are very sentimental about birthdays, Chinese New Year and all that,” Amanda said, adding that they never got angry if he missed certain occasions.

“It’s like, we will just ask him, ‘Are you in for Chinese New Year?’ He will try to get off, but if he cannot then we just move on.”

As for Ng, he said it doesn’t upset him to miss such events. It’s just what it is.

Making the most of their time

Weekends weren’t a thing for Ng, Amanda shared.

So the family made the most of the days he was back in Singapore, eating out or going to the mall together.

Her mother was “chill,” so they even skipped school sometimes to spend time as a family.

For significant life events, such as the births of his daughters, Ng always found a way to be present.

Amanda fondly recalls a story her mother often tells.

When Amanda's younger sister was born, Ng was right there, camcorder in hand.

The only thing was that they had been told that Amanda would be getting a younger brother instead.

In fact, the first time Ng would realise he was having another daughter was when the nurse came out to announce it.

The surprise was evident in Ng’s voice on the recorded video, Amanda shared, as Ng shook his head before breaking into laughter.

Their closeness was evident, and they had no qualms teasing each other.

At one point, Amanda called her father a “boomer,” while Ng called her “talkative.”

No offence was taken, though. It was just everyday banter.

Acts of service

Though Ng may sound brusque at times, his nature shines through in his actions, much like his daughter.

Whenever he returns from his travels, he would always bring a little piece of the world back home.

His daughters could expect presents — snacks from Japan’s Don Quixote or decadent chocolates from Paris.

“The whole fridge is just filled with, like, the whole supermarket. So I’ve never missed that part of, like, not being able to experience another culture,” Amanda said.

And when he was in Singapore, they could always count on him for school drop-offs and pickups.

“He will send us to work, he’ll buy food for us. Like, he’s always there — you can feel him there. I can see him and can feel him. He tries to make himself very present,” Amanda shared.

She recalled a time when Ng came home with 10 packets of different food from the nearby market, much to her surprise.

“I was like, who are you feeding??” Amanda exclaimed.

I wasn't too surprised to hear that though — one comment on Amanda’s TikTok video came from a passenger who fondly remembered asking Ng for an extra dessert during a flight.

Ng not only gave him two servings but later returned before landing to ask if he wanted another plate.

This wasn’t the only fond memory people had of Ng. Many others, including former colleagues, shared anecdotes in the videos, often describing him as “funny” and “caring”.

As we spoke longer, it became more obvious to me that Ng's kind and generous disposition is one of the reasons why he made it through 46 years in a career where service is key.

A man amongst the girlies

How is Ng at giving them emotional support? I asked Amanda.

“Financial support lah,” Ng quipped.

We laughed, and Amanda acknowledged it, before saying that her mother had played more of the emotional support role.

This was partly because she was also female, and both sisters leaned on her more in that regard.

“But my mom is a bit chill. She’s a bit too chill,” she said with a smile.

She recalled a time when she was stressed about a History exam, and her mother casually told her to just skip it.

Like in most Asian families, Amanda explained, emotional support was “very hard to break through”, so whenever she went to her father with concerns, they were “nothing too deep”.

“Very lucky for him, his two daughters are very, like, drama-free. In fact, we’re the people that are always listening to drama rather than being in it. So he doesn’t get much gossip from us,” Amanda laughed.

Ng also acknowledged that it was hard for him to be on the same “wavelength” as the “three girls”, but he does what he can to spend time with them and build their bond.

Despite already flying so often for work, he made it a point to bring the family on yearly vacations.

"So I grew up thinking that every family actually goes overseas every year. That was my norm, until I went into secondary school, and I found out, like some of my friends had never sat on a plane before. That was a very entitled thinking [from] me, to be very honest. But I really didn't know, because I grew up in this family," Amanda said.

These shared moments brought the family of four closer and shaped them into the tight-knit unit they are today.

Always looking forward

Ng had been quite happy to let his “talkative” daughter take the stage during the interview, so I directed the next question to him.

Did he ever feel like he missed out on milestones?

“No,” he said simply, shaking his head.

It’s all just part of the natural progression — and to him, his daughters will always be his “babies”.

In a way, perhaps Ng focuses on what he can do when he lands in Singapore, and then on what he cannot do when he is away.

Ng's mindset, though, does not only focus on the current.

In an insightful quote that evoked an exclamation of feigned admiration from Amanda, he said:

“To look back on things is to be afraid of the future.”

Focusing on himself

Despite his best efforts, Ng shared that he had a quiet realisation one day: his daughters had grown up.

“When I was younger, I will think of them. I will go to Mothercare, buy them clothes,” he said.

Amanda jumped in, cheekily, “You probably went to pasar malam and not Mothercare”.

Ng chuckled and continued: “Suddenly, one day, you go, nothing to buy for anybody at all. You don’t know their size, or the colour they want.”

He also mentioned that while he wants to go on holidays with the family, it’s hard to align everyone’s schedules — they have their own lives and friends.

So now, Ng is focusing on himself, like taking trips to Johor Bahru for facials and paying more attention to his health.

That attention comes on the heels of two bouts of pneumonia Ng faced at the tail end of his career back in 2024.

“Like I’m coughing and coughing. I go on board, I cough. Nobody knows. I go inside the hotel room, I cough whole day. Nobody knows,” he said.

Eventually, he realised it was time to prioritise his health, to come down from the skies and stay grounded for good.

Dad duties

With Ng now around more than ever, Amanda had earlier joked in another interview that it felt “suffocating”.

She clarified it was because she was so used to seeing her father working — and now, she feels “bored” on his behalf.

“I want to help him. But actually, he’s relaxing, as he should. We’re trying to get used to him being around all the time,” she said.

Towards the end of our interview, Ng noticed it had started raining and ran to the kitchen to take down the laundry.

That’s now part of his new routine, Amanda laughed, since he’s home more often.

She also shared a more tender side to her father.

Despite his earlier claim of having an epiphany that his children had grown up, he still checks up on Amanda constantly.

It’s not unusual to get a call from him asking, “Are you coming home? Now what time already? Midnight already, very late.”

To avoid all the questions, she tends to just share her location with him.

“This is called monitoring ah, not stalking,” Ng clarified.

The calls might not be international now, and the location sharing reversed, but to Ng, Amanda will probably always be that six-year-old girl calling him from Singapore, asking "Papa" where he is.

Listen to Ng share more about his 46-year long career in SIA here:

@mothershipsg 46 years as a cabin crew ??? admin can’t even last a month here #singaporeair #fypsg #tiktoksg #cabincrew ♬ original sound - Mothership