Airline halts popular route
A BUDGET airline has suspended its Gold Coast services to a popular Asian city, leaving travellers scrambling to rebook their holidays.
Scoot passengers were emailed on Thursday night advising them the route between the Gold Coast and Singapore had been suspended, with the last flight to leave Coolangatta on July 17.
The email sent to passengers read: “Scoot will be suspending flight services between Singapore and the Gold Coast after 17 July 2023 (last flight out of the Gold Coast) as we adjust capacity and optimise resources in response to demand.”
The email then goes into detail about how to get a refund, either in cash or via travel vouchers with Scoot.
The flight suspension comes after Airasia X
in January announced they would be delaying the return of their route between Gold Coast and Kuala Lumpur.
Passengers told the Bulletin the email had caught them off guard, leaving them scrambling to find flights to connect with other travel legs already booked.
One passenger had Scoot cancel their Gold Coast to Singapore flight but the connecting Scoot flight from Singapore to Vietnam remained booked.
Scoot has been flying from the Gold Coast to Singapore for more than a decade and in that time carried more than one million passengers.
They were among the first international carriers to resume routes from the Gold Coast following the pandemic.
Scoot resumed the Singapore to Gold Coast route on Valentine’s Day last year.
A Gold Coast Airport spokeswoman said: “We share the disappointment of our tourism partners and passengers who have benefited from Scoot’s Singapore-gold Coast flights, however travellers will soon be able to enjoy other Southeast Asian connections.
“We will be welcoming Virgin Australia’s Gold Coast-bali route to our newly expanded terminal from March 29, and Airasia X’s popular Gold Coast-kuala Lumpur route will resume on April 1.”
A Scoot spokesman said the company had no plans to “add other Australian points at this juncture”, and they would “remain nimble in adjusting our network in tandem with evolving developments and opportunities”.