KUALA LUMPUR: Scoot, the low-cost arm of the Singapore Airlines Group, is upbeat on strengthening its presence in Malaysia with the aim of reaching 80 flight weekly between Malaysia and Singapore by end of this year.
Chief commercial officer Vinod Kannan said currently the airline has 71 flight services between Singapore and Malaysia involving six destinations comprising KL, Penang, Ipoh, Langkawi, Kuching and Kuantan.
“We also recently launched two destinations (Kota Bahru and Kota Kinabalu) in Malaysia. Overall, we will have eight points in Malaysia and that shows the importance of the Malaysian market for us,” he told NST Business in a recent interview.
Kannan said Malaysia is one of the biggest operating footprints for Scoot in its global network backed by continued support from Malaysian customers.
Scoot currently operates narrow-body Airbus A320 aircraft to all destinations in Malaysia as well as other routes in Southeast Asia region.
“Currently, our fleet comprise 47 aircraft. Of the total, 18 aircraft are the Boeing B787 Dreamliner (widebody) and the remaining 29 aircraft are the A320, use for all the other regional routes,” he said.
Kannan said Scoot’s operation for the B787 Dreamliner has made the low-cost carrier successful for its medium and long haul destinations including Australia (Sydney, Melbourne and Gold Coast), Berlin, Athens, Jeddah, and Honolulu, Hawaii.
“One of the big advantages of operating the B787 is that the new aircraft is very fuel efficient and customers love the aircraft because it is quiet and comfortable,” he said.
Kannan said Scoot is not worried of the ongoing stiff competition in the regional market as the airline has received good support from Malaysian customers and regionally.
“There’s always going to be a competition for every country that we fly to. I think we have got our own proposition for the customers. Our customers recognised us and we will continue to grow in Malaysia,” he said, adding that the airline was hopeful to reach about 70 aircraft in the next three to four years with a mix of widebody and narrowbody aircraft.
To recap, Scoot took to the skies in June 2012 and merged with Tigerair Singapore in July 2017. It had retained the Scoot brand with over 60 million passengers served.
The airline also has two more Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 37 Airbus A320neo aircraft on order.
Scoot’s network presently encompasses 66 destinations across 18 countries and territories with 17 more destinations from Laos, India, China, Malaysia and Indonesia to join the network by the second half of 2020.
“We try to engage customers in a funny and appealing way to interact with them. For example, we have parties, wedding, and lion dance on our flights. We do fun things which our customers tend to appreciate as well,” he said, adding that this is a unique proposition for the airline to attract customers.
Kannan said Scoot currently operate the KL-Singapore three times daily, citing that it is the airline’s most popular route as it receives the highest frequencies.
“It is an important route to us. We also hope the airspace issue involving Malaysia and Singapore would be resolved soon. The market need to provide customers with more choices to fly.
“On our side, we make sure that the destinations that we operate based on the customers liking and we would continue to do that,” he said.
Kannan said Scoot’s load factor for KL-Singapore route is healthy at about 85 per cent on average, since the airline had launched the service in 2008.
“This is an important part of our network. We are now celebrate the 11th year operation on this route, since Tigerair begun to operate this route.
“Therefore, we would continue to maintain and in future will be increase the frequencies, subject to approvals,” he said, noting that Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, is a big market for airlines for both low-cost carrier and full-service carrier.
On Scoot’s growth expansion, Kannan said the airline intends to add about 17 new destinations in the Southeast Asia including China, Malaysia, India, and Indonesia as well as Laos.
“We have our hands full with these routes. However, we do have plan to expand our long-haul segment but not in the coming year,” he said.
Meanwhile, Scoot’s fleet will be expanded with the transfer of 14 Boeing 737-800s from SilkAir, while the latter will continue growing its operations in the years ahead as it takes delivery of new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft.
SilkAir, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines and operates scheduled passenger services from Singapore to 52 cities in 16 countries in Southeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, China, Japan and Australia.