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Singapore’s first low-cost, long-haul airline SCOOT, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines took off last Sunday. The carrier currently flies to four destinations – Sydney, Gold Coast, Tianjin and Bangkok, and its average fare costs 40 per cent less than those of full-service airlines. Two more routes will be added by the end of this year while additional services could be opened in Mainland China and India next year. Talking to local media, SCOOT CEO Campbell Wilson said: "Obviously China’s a market of great interest because of its growth potential and number of people who are entering middle class and are looking to travel."
Although increasing fuel costs will give a hard time for the airline toddler, SCOOT management highlights the ways SCOOT is due to save on costs. According to the CEO, the airline has a reduced administrative team while a lot of operational activities are outsourced to SIA engineering or ground handling company SATS, also a subsidiary of SIA. Campbell Wilson remains however confident about SCOOT chances of taking a large share of the travel pie out and to Singapore. Changi International Airport indicates that 26% of today travellers are flying on budget carriers, compared to virtually zero a decade ago. While the airline will mainly fly to long haul destinations in a range of nine hours, the choice of flying to Bangkok helps to keep the aircraft in activity. “Bangkok was chosen because it is large enough to support a 400-seat aircraft”, he explained to local media.
Effective from 14 May 2012, SCOOT changed its flight designator code to TZ, replacing the previously-assigned code, OQ.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
