The Little Red Dot made advances in freedom of speech; she eagerly and nervously awaited the capture of a terrorist; she witnessed a medical miracle; she survived a disease that terrified the world. The Singapore Kopitiam team looks back at the events that shaped the last ten years in Singapore.

2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009

Highpoint in the year 2004

Singapore’s first budget airline touches down

The very first budget airline to operate in Singapore opened in May 2004. Valuair sought to provide low-cost travelling that was differentiated from other budget airlines by offering free hot meals, wider legroom and assigned seating.

Valuair paved the way for the development of a budget airline market, as its launch prompted Changi Airport’s dominant carrier Singapore Airlines to introduce its own low-cost start-up, Tiger Airways. Changi Airport’s second most dominant carrier, Qantas Airways later also started its own Asian budget airline, Jetstar Asia.

Valuair and Jetstar Asia later merged in 2005 to form Orange Star.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valuair

http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Low:cost:carrier.htm

http://www.mynetbizz.com/pages/budget-airlines/valuair/valuair.cfm

2004 Lowest Point
Nicoll Highway Collapses

On 20 April 2004, a stretch of the Nicoll Highway collapsed, after a temporary retaining wall of the tunnel at the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Circle Line at Nicoll Highway collapsed.  It caused the surrounding area and the highway to cave into a 30m deep ravine.

The construction accident left 4 dead and 3 injured.

The immediate impact caused by the collapse destroyed gas, water and electricity cables, and the surrounding buildings in the Marina and Suntec City area experienced a blackout. Tremors could be felt all the way up to Golden Mile Complex, which resulted in the evacuation of the building.

Excavation works of all the MRT Circle Line sites were then delayed, and the highway only reopened in December that year. The cost of damages arising amounted in hundreds of millions of dollars.

Prior to the accident, Nicoll Highway had been in use since 1965, when the British built it to connect Kallang to the Central Business District.

http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_430_2004-12-17.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicoll_Highway_collapse

* Main picture: flickr/neilalderney123