HistorySingapore Airlines, one of the best airlines in the world, began with the incorporation of Malayan Airways on May 1, 1947. This incorporation was done by the Ocean Steamship Company of Liverpool, the Straits Company of steamships of Singapore and Imperial Airways. On April 2, 1947, five businessmen chartered a Malayan Airways flight from Singapore's Kallang Airport to Kuala Lumpur, and the flight was operated using an Airspeed Consul twin-engine aircraft. After this charter flight, on 1 May 1947, the same type of aircraft made three weekly scheduled flights from Singapore's Kallang Airport to Kuala Lumpur and the states of Penang and Ipoh. Malayan Airways continued its expansion during the late 1940s and the remainder of the 1950s. Its expansion involved acquiring more aircraft and adding more routes. During this period, British airlines and Qantas Empire Airways provided technical assistance, as well as IATA membership support. By the year 1955, the Malayan Airways fleet had grown to include a large number of Douglas DC-3s, and the company went public in 1957. The incorporation of more DC-3s meant that flights would be more comfortable and faster, and services were extended to new destinations such as Indonesia, Vietnam, Burma (now Myanmar), North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak. Furthermore, on-board refreshment has been improved with the addition of sandwiches, biscuits and a choice of hot and cold drinks. However, when Malaysia, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak formed the Federation of Malaysia in September 1963, the airline changed its name to Malaysian Airways. In view of political developments, and after Singapore separated from the Federation, the airline changed its name again in May 1966; this time, in the midst of the financial crisis, when it was necessary to reduce frequencies and offer promotions to cope with a sudden drop in demand, it is practically impossible to earn money with routes. The elimination of flights and the phasing out of the A340-500s should immediately improve the profitability of SIA's long-haul operations. Newark has been served daily since January 2010, ending a period of about a year in which the service was operated with only five weekly frequencies. . Los Angeles-Singapore service was reinstated on a daily basis in late 2010, but was reduced to five weekly flights in May 2011 and has remained at that level since. Both services were initially offered in a two-class configuration with premium economy and business, but SIA decided to reconfigure its A340s in 2008 to all-business after finding that it could not make money on such long flights with an Economy or Premium product Economy.