Scoot – the low cost subsidiary of Singapore Airlines announced the first six destinations of its Embraer E190-E2 fleet. The first aircraft will land in the next couple of weeks, while the second one will follow and enter service by the end of April. The airline had signed up for nine E190-E2 in February 2023, with deliveries starting this year and ending by 2025.
The inaugural of the E190-E2 is planned on May 07, 2024 to Krabi. The six destinations where the airline will deploy the aircraft are Koh Samui and Sibu – which are new destinations for the group, as well as existing destinations in Malaysia and Thailand – Hat Yai, Kuantan, Krabi and Miri.
The airline aims to offer direct flights to and from Singapore – which helps strengthen the SIA group’s reach and capabilities to non-metro cities across SE Asia enabling the airline to help connect more passengers through the Singapore hub. The first aircraft has been named Explorer 3, and will take over Scoot’s existing flights to Krabi and Hat Yai from May 07, 2024. This will help increase the frequencies to both destinations from current daily to 10 times a week.
The induction of this aircraft will allow Scoot to operate to four additional cities — Koh Samui, Kuantan, Miri, and Sibu. Daily flights to Koh Samui will commence from 13 May 2024, with the frequency progressively increased to twice daily from early June 2024.The addition of the second E2 will also allow Scoot to increase its frequency to Miri and Kuantan from three to four times weekly from 20 May 2024 and 3 June 2024, respectively, as well as launch thrice weekly flights to Sibu from 5 June 2024. Together with destinations served by Scoot‘s existing fleet, the airline would operate 103 times weekly flights to Malaysia and 92- times weekly flights to Thailand by June 2024. With Koh Samui and Sibu, Scoot‘s network will increase to 69 destinations, enhancing the airline‘s connectivity in the region.
The airline has a monopoly to Krabi, Kuantan and Miri, competes with Thai AirAsia to Hat Yai. On the new routes, boutique Thai carrier Bangkok Airways offers double daily service to Koh Samui from Singapore while there is no operator flying non-stop between Sibu and Singapore.
Against the congested airport argument
Whenever the question of a smaller jet (erstwhile Regional Jets) comes up in India, there is an argument that Indian airports are so congested that one would want to deploy the largest aircraft available. Singapore is equally congested, if not more. As per IATA World Slot Guidelines (WSG), Singapore is a Level 3 airport which means “An airport where demand significantly exceeds the airport capability”. In India, four airports – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata are classified as Level 3, while Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Calicut, Jaipur, Trivandrum are listed as Level 2 airports. A level 2 airport is one where “there is potential for congestion during some periods of the day, week, or season”. Interestingly, MIA, Mopa, Goa – which opened last year is also Level 2 airport.
Network Thoughts
A smaller jet has its own advantages and in this case, it looks like the airline is utilising the aircraft in multiple ways. In one case to launch a new route, in another to take on competition with an aircraft which has a lower trip cost and in yet another to adjust the capacity but increasing the frequency – which improves the connectivity quotient and makes booking a one-stop flight attractive. Since the time Scoot and Singapore Airlines decided to sell Scoot flights as a Singapore Airlines codeshare, the network reach has improved multifold and sometimes there are limited options to fly to these niche destinations.
As more aircraft join in, one would expect Singapore Airlines to strengthen its existing network with additional capacity by deploying the E2, where the frequency can be higher but not the capacity; start new points which may not warrant a larger aircraft; opt for withdrawing existing A320 family aircraft and replacing with E2 where route is not doing well and offer two frequencies with the E2 where there currently is just one with the A320 family – which offers better two way connectivity to the larger SIA network.
With just nine aircraft which enter progressively, the network which gets built will be a treat for network planning enthusiasts to learn from on the use of a smaller jet.
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