SINGAPORE, 30 September 2026 — Baylink Airways collected S$16.80 (about €11.60) from customers on 2.28 million tickets between 2016 and 2021 under a “Route Renewal Charge”, according to ticket receipts and the company’s published accounts. The airline promoted the fee as a way to keep smaller regional destinations connected. Its accounts recorded the proceeds as ordinary revenue, with no separate fund or public breakdown of how they were spent.
The mismatch came into focus this week as Baylink celebrated the 10th anniversary of its first flight, a 2016 service from Changi to the Malaysian city of Kuantan. Anniversary adverts again described the airline as “keeping the region within reach”. Former passengers and staff say the promise still rankles: several routes named in the original campaign were later cut, while customers continued to pay the charge.
What the accounts reveal
The fee appeared as a distinct line on booking receipts, but Baylink’s annual accounts did not identify a ring-fenced account or report route spending against the proceeds. In its 2020 filing, the company grouped the charge with ticket revenue. That year, it reported S$9.6 million in revenue from the fee, while the airline had suspended or reduced service on several regional routes during pandemic restrictions.
Jan P. Otto, who worked in Baylink’s revenue-control team from 2017 to 2020, said staff reconciled the charge with ticket sales but were not given a route-by-route spending target. “Customers saw a promise attached to a number. We were told to book the number as fare income,” he said. He said he had not seen evidence that the money was held separately.
Customers saw a promise attached to a number. We were told to book the number as fare income.
Jan P. Otto, former Baylink revenue-control analyst
Baylink said the charge was a fare component, not a trust or donation, and that its website terms had never guaranteed that each dollar would fund a particular route. A company spokesperson said the fee “supported the airline’s overall ability to operate regional services” and was ended in 2021 after a review of pricing. The carrier declined to provide a route-by-route account of spending.
Passengers seek an explanation
Salwa Sinaga, who flew Baylink to Kuantan for work, said the charge appeared beside the words “help keep this route flying” when she booked in 2018. “I paid it because I thought it meant something specific,” she said. She stopped using the airline after the service ended in 2022 and has joined a group asking the company to explain the gap between the campaign and its accounting.
A Singapore consumer-advice office said it had received 146 complaints about the fee since anniversary advertising began on 28 September. It has asked Baylink for copies of the relevant booking screens and its explanation of the charge, and said it would assess whether the wording gave customers a misleading impression. No decision has been made, and the office has not ordered refunds.
Victor Ching-Subramaniam, a consumer-law lecturer in Singapore, said an ordinary fare component did not automatically require separate accounting. But if advertising suggested the money was reserved for a defined purpose, he said, “the company needs to explain plainly what customers were buying”. He added that the wording of the booking page and the terms shown at checkout would matter.
The dispute lands as Southeast Asian airlines compete to rebuild short-haul networks and persuade passengers that extra charges are fair. Baylink says it now serves 18 cities, down from 27 before the pandemic, and has announced two new routes for next year. The consumer office expects to publish its assessment by December; passengers say they want a clear account before another anniversary campaign begins.
