The Singapore Airlines Flying Club was established in 1985, when a pioneer group of Singapore Airlines staff "toyed" with the idea of forming a flying club within the airline, to enable employees to take up leisure flying at an affordable cost.

This was to be achieved through the efforts of volunteers from SIA's then pilots, engineers and administrators. The result of their labour was an agreement with a local flying club for the use of its facilities at Singapore's general aviation airport, Seletar, and the lease of a two-seater Piper Tomahawk aircraft for the exclusive use of SIAFC's members at a very attractive rate. The response and enthusiasm for flying among staff was overwhelming. 

The SIA Flying Club was officially launched at a ceremony held in the SIA hangar at Singapore Changi Airport on 9th October 1987 by the then Managing Director of Singapore Airlines, Dr Cheong Choong Kong. 

Two months later, the SIAFC's first student pilot achieved his 1st solo and qualified for his Private Pilot's Licence soon after. More solo flights and PPLs followed and membership continued to grow, reaching 180 - including 12 female student pilots - within ten months of its inauguration. The sudden injection of new members was testament to the enthusiasm displayed among SIA staff, but was itself the cause of some hitherto unforeseen operational problems, chiefly severe demands on the training resources of the flying club with which we were then associated. One solution was to enlist the help of part-time volunteer Flying Instructors from the Republic of Singapore Air Force, but clearly such an arrangement would at best be temporary. 

In November 1988, just a year after its founding, the SIAFC negotiated with it's partner flying club a new agreement for the use of three two-seater trainer aircraft - two Piper Tomahawks and a Cessna 150, and three touring aircraft - two Cessna 172s and a Socata TB-10 Tobago, a reflection of the changing needs of it's membership.