Sats chief exec to take up senior post at SIA

SINGAPORE Airport Terminal Services (Sats) president and chief executive (CEO) Ng Chin Hwee will soon leave the company to take up a senior position at its parent, Singapore Airlines (SIA).

Mr Ng, who joined mainboard-listed Sats in January 2004, will be promoted to his an as-yet-undisclosed new position 'at a date to be announced in due course', said Sats in a statement yesterday.

A search committee has been set up to look for a successor to Mr Ng, who will stay on to oversee the businesses of Sats until his replacement has been found.

Mr Ng has been with the SIA group of companies since 1985, when he joined as a cadet administration officer.

During his 18-year stint with the group, he handled a broad range of responsibilities such as marketing, ground services and country management.

As divisional vice-president of ground services based in Singapore, he had worldwide responsibilities for airport operations.

Mr Ng had earlier served overseas stints in Germany, Australia and Myanmar. He was also based in Los Angeles for a period as senior vice-president overseeing SIA's business in the Americas.

During his tenure as CEO of Sats, Mr Ng has spearheaded its expansion overseas into booming markets including India, the Middle East and China, forging joint ventures with overseas players to offer the company's inflight catering and ground handling businesses at a number of foreign airports.

He had earlier directed the restructuring of the company into a leaner outfit. In September 2004, Sats, which handles about 80 per cent of ground handling at Changi Airport, shed more than 10 per cent of its workforce to slash costs and boost its competitiveness against new players entering its home turf.

Mr Ng graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Engineering.

He later did further studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received a Master of Management Science (Sloan Fellow) degree.

GRACE NG