Singapore Airlines (SIA) announced the appointment of Mohamed Rafi Mar as General Manager for the United Kingdom and Ireland. Mar replaces Sheldon Hee, who has been posted back to Head Office in Singapore, having held the role since April 2016.

Mar will be based at the Singapore Airlines London office in Chiswick and brings with him an array of experience from the aviation and travel industry. He arrives from Singapore where, most recently, he has held the posts of Vice President Cargo Sales and Marketing and Vice President Commercial, SilkAir, during which time the integration of regional subsidiary SilkAir into Singapore Airlines, which is now being implemented, was being planned.

In his 27-year Singapore Airlines career to date, Mar has held positions in a variety of disciplines across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, including Vice President Southwest the USA and General Manager Germany. Mar's new position sees him assume strategic leadership across all operations within the UK and Ireland. Responsibilities include overseeing all Sales, Marketing, PR, Finance, and airline airport operations at both London Heathrow and Manchester. 

There are a number of immediate tasks that will be keeping Mar busy in his new role, not least due to the current global pandemic. Singapore Airline's London Heathrow-Singapore passenger and cargo flights have continued throughout but planning for ongoing careful expansion of these services continues. Likewise, planning is ongoing for the eventual relaunch of Manchester services, while this year also sees reasons to celebrate, with the 50th anniversary of flights between London and Singapore coming up in June.

The UK team comprises around 100 employees, of which 12 report directly to the General Manager role, while Mar will himself report to Regional Vice President Europe, Sek Eng Lee.