Singapore To Transfer Some SilkAir Routes To Scoot

Singapore Airlines’ low cost unit Scoot will take over a number of its regional carrier SilkAir’s routes over the next two years as the flag carrier prepares to merge SilkAir into the main airline.

SIA said the changes are the result of a review to identify which airlines are best suited to meet customer demand. They are expected to take place between April 2019 and the second half of 2020.

“We are now at the half-way mark in our three-year Transformation Programme, and today’s announcement represents another significant development,” SIA chief executive Goh Choon Phong said.

“The route review will strengthen the SIA Group for the long term, with the right vehicles in our portfolio of airlines deployed to the right markets,” he added.

Singapore announced earlier in the year that it would merge SilkAir into SIA after upgrading the regional’s product.

The routes Scoot will operate are to: Luang Prabang and Vientiane in Laos; Coimbatore, Trivandrum and Visakhapatnam in India; Changsha, Fuzhou, Kunming and Wuhan in China; Chiang Mai in Thailand; Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia; and Balikpapan, Lombok, Makassar, Manado, Semarang and Yogyakarta in Indonesia. The routes will be transferred between April 2019 and July 2020.

The route changes are not all one way though, with SilkAir assuming sole operation of two Scoot services, to Shenzhen in China and Kochi in India during 2019. The parent airline will also take over Scoot routes to two Indian destinations - Bengaluru and Chennai - in May 2019 and May 2020 respectively.