News Scoot

Scoot flying to 20 destinations in October and November

Scoot is adding passenger flights to Semarang in Indonesia and Tianjin in China next month, for a total network of 20 destinations from Singapore during October and November 2020

SIA’s low-cost subsidiary Scoot is continuing the cautious expansion of its passenger flight schedules in October and November 2020, confirming today that it will serve a total of 20 cities from Singapore. That represents the carrier’s largest network since flights were cut to a skeleton schedule of just two cities back in April 2020.

With the very limited frequencies on offer and some routes operating only fortnightly or even less often, in total the airline will operate 186 flights during October 2020 and 170 flights during November 2020. That’s equivalent to just over 3% of Scoot’s originally proposed capacity by flight volumes during the period.

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Where is new?

From October 2020 two additional cities join the existing 18 on the Scoot network:

  • Semarang, Indonesia
  • Tianjin, China

This will be Scoot’s inaugural service to Semarang, a route it is taking over from SilkAir under a planned transfer first announced in late 2018. Airbus A320s will be deployed on this city pair.

Flights were originally proposed to become Scoot-operated from July 2020. SilkAir stopped flying its three times weekly services to Semarang on 20th March 2020, due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Tianjin is a second attempt at a restart for Scoot. A fortnightly service was originally loaded from 19th August 2020, however only one service actually operated. As with the previous plan, Boeing 787-9s are rostered for this service from 21st October 2020.

These two routes will join the existing 18 on Scoot’s passenger network, which are already being operated as of September 2020:

  • Clark
  • Guangzhou
  • Hong Kong
  • Ipoh
  • Kaohsiung
  • Kuala Lumpur
  • Kuching
  • Nanjing
  • Osaka
  • Palembang*
  • Pekanbaru*
  • Penang
  • Perth
  • Seoul
  • Surabaya
  • Taipei
  • Tokyo
  • Yogyakarta

* Originally announced from September 2020, however launch has been delayed until October 2020.

(click to enlarge)

Schedule: Regular flights

The new flight schedule for services operating at least once per week is as follows, running from 1st October – 30th November 2020.

  Newly added this month

Clark
  Days Acft
M T W T F S S
SIN ➔ CRK
TR386
320
CRK ➔ SIN
TR387
320
Guangzhou
  Days Acft
M T W T F S S
SIN ➔ CAN
TR100
789
CAN ➔ SIN
TR101
789
Hong Kong
  Days Acft
M T W T F S S
SIN ➔ HKG
TR980
789
HKG ➔ SIN
TR981
789
Ipoh
  Days Acft
M T W T F S S
SIN ➔ IPH
TR480/6
320
IPH ➔ SIN
TR481/7
320
Kaohsiung / Osaka
(until 25 Oct)
  Days Acft
M T W T F S S
SIN ➔ KHH
TR884
789
KHH ➔ KIX
TR884
789
KIX ➔ KHH
TR885
789
KHH ➔ SIN
TR885
789
Kaohsiung / Osaka
(from 31 Oct)
  Days Acft
M T W T F S S
SIN ➔ KHH
TR894
789
KHH ➔ KIX
TR894
789
KIX ➔ KHH
TR895
789
KHH ➔ SIN
TR895
789
Kuala Lumpur
  Days Acft
M T W T F S S
SIN ➔ KUL
TR452
32N
KUL ➔ SIN
TR453
32N
Kuching
  Days Acft
M T W T F S S
SIN ➔ KCH
TR430
320
KCH ➔ SIN
TR431
320
Nanjing
  Days Acft
M T W T F S S
SIN ➔ NKG
TR180
789
NKG ➔ SIN
TR181
789
Penang
  Days Acft
M T W T F S S
SIN ➔ PEN
TR426
320
PEN ➔ SIN
TR427
320
Perth
  Days Acft
M T W T F S S
SIN ➔ PER
TR8
789
PER ➔ SIN
TR9
789
SIN ➔ PER
TR16
789
PER ➔ SIN
TR17
789
Surabaya
  Days Acft
M T W T F S S
SIN ➔ SUB
TR262/4
320
SUB ➔ SIN
TR263/5
320
Taipei / Seoul
(until 24 Oct)
  Days Acft
M T W T F S S
SIN ➔ TPE
TR880
789
TPE ➔ ICN
TR880
789
ICN ➔ TPE
TR881
789
TPE ➔ SIN
TR881
789
Taipei / Seoul
(from 30 Oct)
  Days Acft
M T W T F S S
SIN ➔ TPE
TR896
789
TPE ➔ ICN
TR896
789
ICN ➔ TPE
TR897
789
TPE ➔ SIN
TR897
789
Taipei / Tokyo
(until 22 Oct)
  Days Acft
M T W T F S S
SIN ➔ TPE
TR882
789
TPE ➔ NRT
TR882
789
NRT ➔ TPE
TR883
789
TPE ➔ SIN
TR883
789
Taipei / Tokyo
(from 28 Oct)
  Days Acft
M T W T F S S
SIN ➔ TPE
TR898
789
TPE ➔ NRT
TR898
789
NRT ➔ TPE
TR899
789
TPE ➔ SIN
TR899
789

Schedule: Ad-hoc services

Flights to and from the following cities in October and November 2020 will operate on a less than weekly basis, or only on specific dates.

  Newly added this month

Palembang
  Dates of operation Acft
SIN ➔ PLM
TR250
Oct: 13th
Nov: 3rd, 17th
320
PLM ➔ SIN
TR251
Pekanbaru
  Dates of operation Acft
SIN ➔ PKU
TR252
Oct: 29th
Nov: 12th, 26th
320
PKU ➔ SIN
TR253
  Semarang
  Dates of operation Acft
SIN ➔ SRG
TR240
Oct: 21st
No services planned in November
320
SRG ➔ SIN
TR241
  Tianjin
  Dates of operation Acft
SIN ➔ TSN
TR138
Oct: 21st
Nov: 4th, 18th
789
TSN ➔ SIN
TR139
Yogyakarta
  Dates of operation Acft
SIN ➔ YIA
TR212
Oct: 13th
No services planned in November
320
YIA ➔ SIN
TR213

As you can see many of these routes like Tianjin and Palembang will be operating on a fortnightly basis during the coming months.

Transit permissions

All Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and Scoot passengers originating at any city on the network can now transit through Changi Airport en-route to their final destination provided they are flying with and SIA Group airline, with the exception of cities in the Philippines and the USA.

That means Scoot’s passengers starting their journey in Clark are the only ones excluded from the transit approval.

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  Flight totals

Looking at the week commencing 19th October 2020, a total of 44 weekly Scoot passenger flights will be operated.

That doesn’t come close to the 1,200 weekly flights Scoot had originally planned for the month, however a marginally increased schedule with two more cities on the roster continues to be a step in the right direction from the original low point of 12 weekly passenger flights in both April and May 2020.

(click to enlarge)

In total during October 186 Scoot passenger flights are scheduled, a 22% increase on the 152 operated in August 2020. A slight drop is then seen in the shorter month of November, though there is presumably the possibility of additional services being added by then.

The airline’s Boeing 787-9 aircraft are also continuing to fly additional cargo-only services to cities like Wuhan, with some cargo-only Airbus A320 flights also operating.

The full Scoot passenger flight schedule for September, October and November 2020, which is subject to occasional updates, is available here.

  Scoot Sep – Nov Flight Schedules

Here’s how Scoot’s weekly passenger seat capacity has increased since the first skeleton schedule to two cities was adopted in early April 2020, based on week commencing 19th October.

(click to enlarge)

With an increase in total flights during October 2020, ‘peak week’ passenger capacity rises to almost 14,000 during the month.

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ScootPlus routes

The ScootPlus cabin (formerly known as ScootBiz), which normally offer more legroom, additional baggage allowance, meals and a free Wi-Fi allowance, was temporarily unavailable during the airline’s limited flight schedules introduced in April 2020.

ScootPlus became open for booking again on Boeing 787-operated flights from August 2020.

TR 787 ScootBiz (Luke Lai)
The ScootPlus cabin. (Photo: Luke Lai)

This remains the case in October and November 2020, though the experience is a little ‘dulled down’ compared to before, with the following benefits:

  • Bigger full leather seat with at least 38” (96cm) of legroom, 22” (56cm) of width, 6” (15cm) of recline and fully adjustable headrests and legrests.
  • 30kg check-in baggage allowance, however upsized cabin baggage allowance does not currently apply.
  • Priority check-in and boarding.
  • 30MB free Wi-Fi allowance.

Effectively the extra Cabin Bag, meal Selection and seats selection are not currently available.

ScootPlus

ScootPlus is available in October and November 2020 on the following routes:

  • Guangzhou
  • Hong Kong
  • Kaohsiung
  • Nanjing
  • Osaka
  • Perth
  • Seoul
  • Taipei
  • Tianjin

SIA and SilkAir

These services will complement Singapore Airlines’ own 31 passenger destinations and SilkAir’s five routes from Changi during October and November 2020.

This list includes new flights to Johannesburg, Taipei and Surabaya, plus increased frequencies on routes including London and Sydney as Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and Scoot are now all able to take advantage of intra-group transit passenger traffic.

What if your flight has been cancelled?

Scoot’s current travel waiver is applicable if you booked your flight on or before 15th March 2020 for travel between 23rd January 2020 and 31st December 2020.

There are two options to claim a refund:

  • A 100% refund via the original method of payment, or
  • A 120% refund in Scoot vouchers, valid for 12 months.

For a 100% refund to your original payment method, Scoot is advising of a wait of up to 14 weeks for processing.

“For guests choosing [the refund] option, please note that it will take up to 14 weeks. In view of the volume of requests to process, we will be doing so in batches.  We ask for your understanding and patience whilst we get to your file.”

Scoot

If you previously applied for a refund and opted for the voucher, this will be voided on processing of the cash refund should you now opt for that method.

TR 789 Landing (Suparat_C SS)
Eligible Scoot customers continue to have the option of a full cash refund or 120% value in Scoot vouchers valid for 12 months. (Photo: Shutterstock)

If you would rather receive the 120% refund in Scoot vouchers, note the following:

  • You have 12 months to use these vouchers to make a new booking, for any travel period available on the Scoot website at the time of booking. You may use up to two vouchers per transaction.
  • If you have previously received a 100% refund in the form of Scoot travel vouchers (i.e. before 9th April 2020), you will receive an additional voucher worth 20% of your original itinerary value.

Scoot’s Manage My Booking portal supports customers wishing to select these options online.

If you booked your Scoot flights through third-party booking channels or a travel agent, you should contact the relevant channel or agents for assistance.

Remember this Scoot voucher has a fixed value, dependent on the total price of your original itinerary, and there will be no point in complaining if your ticket is over 20% more expensive when you come to rebook in future, even on the same route.

Full details of the latest Scoot COVID-19 travel waiver policy can be found here.

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Summary

A cautious increase for Scoot passenger flights over the next two months, with only two destinations added and many services proposed on a fortnightly or ad-hoc basis, as the airline no doubt balances travel restrictions and caps on services with limited passenger demand.

Overall, Scoot continues to cut approximately 97% of its passenger capacity through to 30th November 2020, a stark drop compared with usual operation.

Tianjin is back on the map for a second restart for Scoot in October and November 2020. (Photo: Shangri-La)

It’s good to see more destinations on offer, however these small incremental network increases from Scoot, not to mention the very infrequent nature of most services, are likely to continue until there is any significant easing of travel restrictions to and from the airline’s principal markets.

(Cover Photo: Gradepixel)

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