Scoot has announced its December 2020 flying schedule and it’s bad news for the low-cost carrier. Previously making progressive increases to its flight frequencies and destination map over the last seven months, the SIA subsidiary has cut seven cities from its network completely, including a failed restart on the Sydney route and a complete withdrawal from Perth.
The airline will operate 136 passenger flights in December 2020, 20% less than the 171 planned for November 2020, representing the lowest monthly activity level by flight volumes across the three SIA Group airlines.
Where is ending?
Scoot will withdraw planned services from the following cities in November 2020 or by early December 2020:
- Clark (final flight on 9th November)
- Kaohsiung (final flight on 7th November)
- Kuala Lumpur (final flight on 16th November)
- Manila (final flight on 3rd December)
- Osaka (final flight on 7th November)
- Perth (final flight on 4th December, having served the city continuously during the COVID-19 pandemic)
- Sydney (planned restart on 2nd November never materialised)
The revised route map for December 2020 will include the following 12 cities once the routes listed above have ceased.
This represents a big withdrawal from Australia for the airline, with three times weekly Perth flights ending and the planned weekly Sydney service from 2nd November never getting off the ground for some reason.
Scoot will continue to serve Melbourne once per week, a service it reinstated from 1st November 2020, through these are cargo-only flights in one direction until later this month.
Mainline carrier Singapore Airlines continues to operate a range of flights to Australia including three times weekly to Perth and 12 times weekly to Sydney, not to mention its busiest route on the network Melbourne, which sees 13 flights per week.
Scoot Schedule
Here’s how Scoot’s weekly flight schedule looks, with routes ending highlighted in red.
| Ending |
| Ending |
| Scoot Routes (Nov – Dec 2020) |
|||
| City | Month | Acft | |
| Nov | Dec | ||
| Clark | 1/wk (until 9 Nov) |
— | 320 |
| Guangzhou | 1/wk | 1/wk | 789 |
| Hong Kong | 3/wk | 3/wk | 789 |
| Ipoh | 1/wk | 1/wk | 320 |
| Kaohsiung / Osaka | 1/wk (until 7 Nov) |
— | 789 |
| Kuala Lumpur | 1/wk (until 16 Nov) |
— | 32N |
| Kuching | 1/wk | 1/wk | 320 |
| Manila | 1/wk (until 3 Dec) |
— | 789 |
| Melbourne | 1/wk | 1/wk | 789 |
| Nanjing | 1/wk | 1/wk | 789 |
| Penang | 1/wk | 1/wk | 320 |
| Perth | 3/wk (until 4 Dec) |
— | 789 |
| Surabaya | 1/wk | 1/wk | 320 |
| Sydney | — | — | 789 |
| Taipei / Seoul | 1/wk | 1/wk | 789 |
| Taipei / Tokyo | 1/wk | 1/wk | 789 |
| Tianjin | 0.5/wk | 0.5/wk | 789 |
| Total | 19.5/wk |
12.5/wk | |
The vast majority of Scoot’s operations will be focused on the Boeing 787-9 by December, with only four weekly Airbus A320 flights. The airline’s Airbus A320neo fleet also looks set to be returned to storage once the weekly Kuala Lumpur flight stops in mid-November.
Flight totals
Looking at the week commencing 14th December 2020, a total of 32 weekly Scoot passenger flights will be operated. The airline operated 1,188 flights during the same week in December 2019.
In total during November 171 Scoot passenger flights are scheduled, a slight increase on October’s total and the highest level since the COVID-19 recovery began in June 2020.
In December however flights passenger flights fall by around 20% to 136 services in total.
That’s the first decline we have seen from the carrier during the recovery. That said, Scoot does sometimes make short-term changes to its flight schedule and additional flights in December could still be loaded in due course.
“Scoot will continue to adjust our network in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.”
Scoot
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, now that two aircraft have been modified to carry cargo in the cabin, in place of passenger seats.
The full Scoot passenger flight schedule for November and December 2020, which is subject to occasional updates, is available here.
Scoot Nov – Dec Flight Schedules
SIA and SilkAir
These services will complement Singapore Airlines’ own 35 passenger destinations and SilkAir’s nine routes from Changi during November and December 2020.
This list includes new flights to New York JFK, Da Nang and Malé.
Here’s how Scoot’s capacity by passenger flight volumes in December 2020 compares alongside other Singapore-based carriers, based on usual levels:
- SIA: 17.0%
- Jetstar: 7.5% (Nov 2020)
- SilkAir: 4.3%
- Scoot: 2.4%
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 January 2021.
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 24 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.
If you would rather receive the 120% refund in Scoot vouchers, note the following:
- You have 24 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.
Summary
An unusual and surprising decline in Scoot passenger flights for December, with the airline ending the year at around 2.5% of usual capacity by flight volumes, the lowest in the SIA Group, axing more than half a dozen previously reinstated routes before the end of the 2020.
For the first time this year, SilkAir will operate more weekly flights than Scoot. Before COVID-19, Scoot operated around 50% more flights than SIA’s regional division.
While Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and Jetstar all continue to increase flights, this is a strange move from Scoot, however there is still time for the airline to add more flights to its December schedule in due course.
(Cover Photo: mokjc / Shutterstock)