Singapore Airlines’ low-cost subsidiary, Scoot, has announced it will fly between Singapore and Tianjin, the carrier’s third destination and first in Mainland China.
The service will be operated four times a week and is scheduled to begin in the second half of this year, although a confirmed timetable has not yet been announced.
Meanwhile, the carrier has begun selling tickets for flights to its launch destination of Sydney, which will take off on June 26, and Gold Coast, scheduled to begin on October 27. Tickets start from as low as A$88 (US$92) one way, inclusive of taxes, although this price is from the Fly fare option, the cheapest one in economy class, and it does not include any checked baggage allowance or meals onboard. Passengers in economy are allowed 7kg hand-carried luggage and a laptop. For more about the carrier’s class and fare categories, see our previous coverage here.
Since its inception, Scoot has been creating a lot of buzz by launching interactive social media campaigns, each time unveiling a different element of the new carrier from the tagline (see story here) to ticket pricing. Despite this, the success of the carrier itself, which will be kicking off with four B777-200ER aircraft, is difficult to predict given the apparent difficulty of sustaining a low-cost, long-haul business model. Recently, AirAsia X, the long-haul arm of low-cost AirAsia, has had to cut several cross-continent flights due to high fuel prices and taxes (see story here), reflecting that, perhaps, the low-cost model only works for short- to medium-haul routes (see story here).
Tianjin, connected to Beijing by a 30-minute train, is a city that is rapidly garnering greater importance on the national platform. The Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA) within the city houses several operations and offices for international firms, including Airbus and Boeing. For more about the city, read our feature here that appeared in the Business Traveller Asia-Pacific June 2011 issue.
For more information, visit www.flyscoot.com
Alisha Haridasani
