SingTel has been a monopoly for most of its life and in Singapore -- where the government does what it can to cosset business -- managing a company has mostly meant showing up .
L'Avion won't cosset you as much, but passengers are willing to trade off overflowing cocktails before takeoff and the frequent-flyer miles they can't use easily anyway to save $3 .
They subsidize it generously; they cosset it with quotas and tax breaks.