The aircraft 9V-SPK was delivered new to Singapore Airlines on 21 January 1997 and was painted in a special livery called "Rainbow" (commonly referred to as "Tropical" or "Tropical Megatop"). The livery was unveiled in September 1998 in conjunction with the launch of Singapore Airlines' latest cabin product and service offerings across all of the airline's travel classes at the time.
The plane crashed on 31 October 2000 at Taipei after attempting to take off from runway 05R, which had been closed due to ongoing construction works. The aircraft struck construction equipment and concrete barriers, causing the aircraft to break apart and catch fire. Typhoon Xangsane was passing through the area at the time of the accident, meaning the weather was very poor and the pilots had very limited visibility, causing them to line up on the wrong runway. 79 of the 159 passengers and 4 of the 20 crew died in the crash.
After the accident, 9V-SPL, another aircraft painted with the same livery, was removed from service and repainted with the standard Singapore Airlines livery. Only after 15 years did the airline introduce another special livery, this time on two of its Airbus A380 aircraft in conjunction with Singapore's 50th National Day celebrations.