1. singapore airlinesLimited (SIA) is the 5-star airline of Singapore.Singapore Airlines operates trans-Pacific flights, including the world'slongest non-stop commercial flights from Singapore to Los Angeles andNewark on the Airbus A340-500. In late 2013, the company ceasedoffering those two long flights although Los Angeles is still served viaTokyo-Narita. The luxury airline has a strong presence in Asia. A mem-ber of the Star Alliance, Singapore Airlines carried around 18 millionpassengers in 2012, up from 16.9 million in 2011.Singapore Airlines is very well managed strategically. The companyhas diversified airline-related businesses, such as aircraft handling andengineering, and owns SilkAir that manages regional flights to secondarycities with smaller capacity requirements. Singapore Airlines operatespassenger services to more than 60 cities in over 30 countries aroundthe world. Within Asia, passengers can connect to over 30 cities servedby SilkAir. The company is the official sponsor of Singapore nationalfootball team and has been marketing Singapore Girl as central imageto the airline's brand.Fortunein 2013 ranked Singapore Airlines as the31st most admired company in the world outside the United States. InDecember 2012, Singapore Airlines sold its 49 percent stake in VirginAtlantic for US$360 million.In April 2012, Singapore Airlines phased out the 747 from its fleetafter 40 years of service. A final round-trip commemorative flight wasoperated from Singapore to Hong Kong. In December 2012, SingaporeAirlines began using the A380 to San Francisco via Hong Kong as a win-ter seasonal service, but still uses a Boeing 777-300ER for the remainderof the year. InMay 2013,SingaporeAirlines made acommitment toorder 30 Boeing787-10X to bedelivered in2018-2019 time frame. In September 2013, Singapore Airlines beganusing the Airbus A380 on selected flights to and from Shanghai, China.Singapore Airlines' passenger carriage (measured in revenue pas-senger kilometers) grew 8.6 percent in August 2013 year-on-yearalong with a 3.1 percent increase in capacity (measured in availableseat kilometers). The company's passenger load factor (PLF) improvedby 4.1 percentage points to 82.4 percent as the number of passengerscarried in August 2013 increased by 11.7 percent to 1.7 million. Loadfactors improved across all regions, bolstered by strong leisure traveldemand during the Lebaran/Hari Raya holidays, coupled with returningsummer traffic. Traffic to West Asia and Africa also saw improvements.SilkAir'ssystem wide passenger carriage in August 2013 increased10.7 percent year-on-year along with a 13.4 percent growth incapacity. For that month, Silk Air's PLF was 1.8 percentage points lowerat 71.7 percent. Singapore Airlines' cargo traffic (measured in freight-tonne-kilometres) was 5.7 percent lower in August 2013 year-on-year,while cargo capacity was reduced by 5.0 percent.

The question is :What is Singapore airlines' competitive advantage?How can this advantage be sustained?