Scoot Confirms Expansion into China

Asian long-haul, low-cost start-up Scoot has revealed plans to expand its network into China following its launch this summer. The wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines will begin flights in June initially serving the Australian cities of Sydney and Gold Coast. However, by the end of the year China is set to be the airline’s largest market with three new routes expected to be launched before the end of 2012.

The first of these was revealed this week to be Tianjin with flights to the city’s Binhai International Airport due to commence in August. The carrier, like its fellow Asian low-cost, long-haul operator AirAsia X has selected the secondary destination to avoid direct competition with Singapore Airlines and to support growing demand in China’s regions. It may be a secondary city and only home to the country’s 22nd largest airport but the Tianjin municipality still has a population of around 12 million people and is only a short distance from Beijing, a fact highlighted by the airline's Chief Executive Officer, Campbell Wilson, at Scoot's brand launch in China this week.

“Tianjin, a mere 30-minute high speed bullet train ride away from here, has huge potential. Besides being the first airline to fly direct to Tianjin from Singapore, Scoot will also connect Tianjin through one of the world’s biggest air hubs, Singapore, offering connections to over 100 cities," he said.

Scoot executives remain tight lipped over the two additional destinations in China but will not be Beijing, Guangzhou or Shanghai – routes already served by Singapore Airlines, but secondary markets that are not substantial enough to be served by the full-service carrier. Hangzhou is one likelt candidate as like Tianjin it can act as a secondary gateway to one of the major cities, in this case Shanghai.

The table below highlights the current links from Singapore’s Changi International Airport into China. There are currently 430 weekly flights between Singapore and China offering almost 100,000 seats in each direction. In the past year an estimated 3.39 million O&D passengers travelled between Singapore and China, up 15.3 per cent on the previous 12 months.