The finding by aviation research company Skytrax coincided with growing public criticism over the national carrier's lack of corporate responsibility following a round of post-Sars retrenchment. SIA suffered its first-ever loss of S$312 million (US$177 million) during the Sars period.
With news of the retrenchment fresh in the public's mind, there was little sympathy for SIA. One reader who wrote in to the local daily even called for a boycott of SIA after reading that a stewardess just months away from completing 10 years of service had been retrenched, depriving her of a $25,000 gratuity.
Batey, which handles SIA's advertising and PR, did not respond at press time on whether the airline would mount a drive to win back its home crowd.
Other brand consultants believe SIA faces several crucial issues.
Enterprise IG Singapore senior brand consultant, Michael Pucci, said: "SIA tends to focus on the customer facing brand to the exclusion of its equally important employee, partner and investor facing brand."
He added: "The only way I see they could recover from this would be to overcompensate on the rebound - for example hire back the same people, raise salaries, start saying, 'We're doing well, again'. If they fail to do so, then this audience will perceive Sars and Iraq as convenient excuses to downsize for strategic reasons (like building a domestic carrier service in Australia). SIA then gets the worst positioning of all, that of a liar.
"If the corporation starts talking about cost-saving measures, the customer tends to equate that with a decline in quality.
"This puts the service brand of SIA at very high risk of being perceived as playing the commodities game. Is SIA a brand or is it a company that just provides air services?"