It is disheartening that many Singapore Airlines (SIA) cabin crew have been retrenched due to the pandemic's near-decimation of international travel.

Even SIA employees undergoing training to be pilots or cabin crew were not spared. Half of them have been let go, while the rest will leave after their training (Half of SIA pilot, cabin crew trainees allowed to complete training, Sept 16).

Their SIA training in service excellence should not go to waste. The well-trained and skilled cabin crew who were retrenched could be employed by other companies providing front-line services. The qualified pilots could relearn on the job to work as drone pilots at start-ups.

In addition, SIA's in-house trainers, training programmes and facilities could be offered to other companies for a fee, after repurposing or adapting the courses to meet their needs.

Some of the cabin crew and pilots to be retained by SIA could serve on the airline's planned "flights to nowhere" if and when this takes off (SIA eyeing 'flights to nowhere' to give a lift to ailing business, Sept 13).

Imagine Singapore residents checking into SQ flights at Changi Airport but returning to the airport for a shopping spree at Jewel, after enjoying three hours of in-flight service, with essential safe measures in place.

Upon arrival, they are taken in a limousine to a local hotel for their staycation, before starting on their tours of local attractions the next day.

For many Singaporeans, such a package could turn out to be a liberating or even therapeutic experience during the current crisis.

It may serve as a timely solution for SIA and some of the businesses in the tourism industry.

Joachim Sim Khim Huang