S’pore’s Scoot will fly to Kuantan, Pahang and Kuching next year
SINGAPORE: Singapore’s lowcost airline, Scoot, which has successfully merged with Tigerair Singapore this month, will fly to Kuantan, Pahang and Kuching, Sarawak not later than the first quarter of next year.
The medium- to long-haul arm of the Singapore Airlines Group will service the Kuching route seven times a week by end-October this year and Kuantan there times weekly by the first quarter of 2018.
Scoot is also maintaining the four routes previously serviced by Tigerair using Airbus A320 in Malaysia, namely Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi and Penang.
“Competition is just part of the business.. with any carrier. whether in Malaysia or other routes we have to face it. We have to compete, “said Scoot’s chief executive officer, Lee Lik Hsin to reporters after announcing the new routes in conjunction with its single brand celebration yesterday.
He was asked to comment on the competition Scoot might face with local low-cost airlines like AirAsia in Malaysia.
Asked on why Kuantan and Kuching were chosen, Lee said : “Why not? We are very encouraged with our expansion in Malaysia. We see more opportunities in Malaysia.”
On whether Scoot would expand its route network in Malaysia, he said: “It depends on how well we do on the new routes. We have a good base line there.”
Honolulu, Hawaii; Harbin, China; and Palembang, Indonesia are the other three routes introduced by Scoot yesterday.
Coupled with the addition of the previous Tigerair network, the five new services will bring Scoot’s total destination count to 65 across 18 countries.
The airline reached a milestone carrying over 50 million passengers since it started operations in 2012, and now operates a fleet of 14 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 23 Airbus A320 with six more Dreamliners and 39 A320neo aircraft on order.
Nine months after Scoot and Tigerair announced their intention to pursue a single brand and operating licence under the enhanced Scoot brand, the airline industry yesterday bade farewell to the later as its last flight departed Singapore for Tiruchirappalli at 11.05 pm on July 24. — Bernama