Sustainable Business  /   Compassion is in Our DNA_Thila, Duty Manager

Compassion is in Our DNA

Compassion towards others is enrooted in our culture

At SATS, being compassionate towards others is enrooted in our culture. Our passion to delight passengers and touch lives shines through our passenger services team’s dedication and thoughtful gestures.

For Thilagavathi d/o Rajendran (or Thila, as she is affectionately known), being a passenger services duty manager means going above and beyond standard expectations.


“It’s about serving people with compassion,” she shares. Having worked at the airport for 32 years, she discovered the importance of placing herself in another’s shoes to serve passengers better. Her compassionate nature has even seen her extending room and board in her own home to Karina Groth, a then 18-year old German student who was cash-strapped and stranded in Singapore for three days after missing her return flight to Düsseldorf in 2009. “I knew something was wrong because her luggage had come off a flight from Brisbane, but she was nowhere in sight. When we finally found her, she started crying upon realising that she couldn’t pay for rebooking fees or a meal, and had nowhere to go,” Thila relates.

At SATS, it’s not about just doing your job. It’s about doing things with your heart.

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For Thila, being a passenger services duty manager means going above and beyond standard expectations.

Looking back fondly on her memory of Karina’s stay, Thila shares, “She’s a very humble and sweet girl and I enjoyed sharing the best parts of our culture with her. We still keep in touch today.” Although Thila was commended for her act of kindness, she emphasises that she is not the only one who would go the extra mile – “We are all like this at SATS! It’s our culture to go beyond the call of duty for passengers.” Like her managers before her, Thila continues to instil this same passion to delight passengers through heartfelt service in the 15 to 20 staff she oversees.