SIA’s low-cost carrier Scoot first announced its intention to lease nine brand new E190-E2 regional jets back in February 2023, finalising the deal in May 2023, and while the first two aircraft were due to be flying passengers this month, a short delivery delay means service entry will now be in May 2024 instead.

One of the most exciting aspects of these new aircraft we’ve been looking forward to learning is where the airline will be flying them from the first half of this year, and we’ve certainly made no secret of having the popular Thai holiday island of Koh Samui pinned to the top of our wish list from the outset.

Koh Samui flights confirmed

While it won’t be the very first destination for Scoot’s Embraer E190-E2 jets, we’re happy to report that Koh Samui will indeed be on the roster from mid-May 2024, initially with a daily service but increasing to twice daily from June.

Scoot will be the only airline on the Singapore – Koh Samui route offering morning flight timings, which are potentially a great way to maximise the start of your trip including a full ‘first hotel day’.

The SIA Group discontinued flights to and from Koh Samui in March 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when SilkAir (remember them?) ceased its twice-daily Airbus A319 services to and from Changi.

SilkAir retired these aircraft during the pandemic, and since they were the largest jets permitted to land at Koh Samui, the Group has since been left with no compatible types to fly to the airport, which is privately owned by Bangkok Airways, who set the rules on what size of planes can and can’t use it.

The E190-E2 falls well within Koh Samui’s operating restrictions (in fact it’s far smaller than the upper aircraft size limit imposed), and so it’s no surprise that the SIA Group has jumped back in to this popular market at the first opportunity with the arrival of the E-Jets.

Scoot will provide competition to Bangkok Airways on this route, an airline that currently enjoys a monopoly on Singapore – Koh Samui flights with its twice daily Airbus A319 services, which often command high fares and offer only afternoon and evening flight timings.

The schedule

For the first two weeks of operation, Scoot will launch a daily service between Singapore and Koh Samui, as shown below.

Singapore ⇄ Koh Samui
13th May 2024 – 26th May 2024

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	TR642 E190-E2
SIN 10:15		USM 11:15
	TR643 E190-E2
USM 12:10		SIN 15:05

From 27th May to 5th June 2024, Scoot will scale up to 10 times weekly operation on the route, with the addition of an early morning flight on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Singapore ⇄ Koh Samui
27th May 2024 – 5th June 2024

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	TR640 E190-E2
SIN 07:05		USM 08:05
	TR642 E190-E2
SIN 10:15		USM 11:15
	TR641 E190-E2
USM 09:00		SIN 12:00
	TR643 E190-E2
USM 12:10		SIN 15:05

Finally from 6th June 2024 the early morning service operates every day of the week, for twice daily total operation on the route.

Singapore ⇄ Koh Samui
From 6th June 2024

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	TR640 E190-E2
SIN 07:05		USM 08:05
	TR642 E190-E2
SIN 10:15		USM 11:15
	TR641 E190-E2
USM 09:00		SIN 12:00
	TR643 E190-E2
USM 12:10		SIN 15:05

Fares

Scoot’s introductory one-way fares from Singapore to Koh Samui start at S$175, compared to S$263 for Bangkok Airways, based on travel in May 2024.

However, do bear in mind you’ll be on the hook for baggage and seat selection fees with Scoot, while F&B on board is chargeable, in contrast to full-service carrier Bangkok Airways.

We priced up a weekend Koh Samui round-trip we’re looking at in September 2024 (Friday 6th to Monday 9th), and Scoot comes in at S$420.88, while Bangkok Airways comes in at S$464.30.

However, once a 20kg bag and standard (cheapest) seat selection is added, the Scoot fare becomes S$462.88, practically the same as Bangkok Airways, and then any food or drink on board will be chargeable, while Bangkok Airways offers a complimentary bar service and a hot meal to all passengers on board its flights.

For this itinerary, the biggest benefit Scoot provides is actually the morning timing options for the Singapore – Koh Samui direction.

It potentially makes taking Scoot outbound and Bangkok Airways one-way for the trip back home the perfect combination, maximising both the first and last days of the trip.

Free booking flexibility?

Whether it’s an unannounced perk or an IT bug, Scoot is offering its MultiFlex ticket option at no additional cost when booking these new Koh Samui flights.

This perk allows unlimited flight date and time changes with no change fees (fare difference still applies), up till four hours prior to departure, and usually costs S$20 to S$40 per passenger per booking, depending on the distance flown.

Here’s how it normally looks when booking a short-haul Scoot flight.

Here’s how it looks when booking any Koh Samui flight.

While it’s free, we’ll definitely take it!

Scoot’s Embraer E190-E2

The airline will receive its first two E190-E2 aircraft in April 2024, fresh from the manufacturer’s facility in São José dos Campos, Brazil.

Scoot will be the first Asian carrier to operate the type, and it will be interesting to see how the jets make the 16,000km delivery journey – further than the equivalent distance from New York to Singapore – a trip that will no doubt have to be split into three, four or even five separate flights!

The aircraft are part of a total order for nine E190-E2s from US-based lessor Azzora.

While terms are obviously confidential, according to Cirium a new E190-E2 commands a lease rate of around US$200,000 – US$240,000 per month, so Scoot will be keen to start filling the aircraft with revenue passengers as soon as possible after delivery.

Scoot will configure the E190-E2 with 112 seats in a single-class (Economy) 2-2 configuration, ideal for what the airline calls “thinner routes to non-metro destinations”.

Naturally, that will make it the smallest member of the airline’s fleet.

Scoot aircraft by seating capacity
(highest to lowest)

Aircraft	Total Seats
Boeing 787-9	375
Boeing 787-8	335
Boeing 787-8 (Bunk)	329
Airbus A321neo	236
Airbus A320neo	186
Airbus A320	180
Embraer E190-E2	112

For a 112-seat fit, seat pitch will be around 29 inches, with width of around 18 inches. That’s quite comparable to those fitted on board the airline’s Airbus A320neo aircraft, though the big selling point for the regional jet is the 2-2 layout, giving all passengers either a window or aisle seat.

Here’s how the seat map looks.

Rows 1 and 11 are the extra legroom seats, which Scoot calls ‘Stretch’, and should have around 34″ of pitch, in common with the same seats on the carrier’s A320s and 787s.

Note that while Rows 2 to 4 are advertised as ‘Front’ seats, they don’t have any extra legroom, they’ll just help you disembark first (at most airports that is…).

Here’s how the one-way seat selection is priced for the Singapore – Koh Samui route:

• ‘Stretch’ (Row 1): S$28
• ‘Stretch’ (Row 11): S$25
• ‘Front’ (Rows 2-4): S$15
• Rows 5-9: S$11
• Row 10: S$10 (no recline)
• Rows 12-17: S$9
• Rows 18-28: S$8 (no recline in Row 28)

Do be aware that Scoot has flagged Row 10 and Row 28 as non-reclining seats.

Pro Tip: In Koh Samui, Bangkok Airways uses both the front and rear doors for disembarkation, onto the tarmac into waiting shuttle buses. We expect Scoot will do the same there, in which case the cheaper seats right at the back of the cabin are as good as the ones at the front, in terms of reaching the immigration counters first!

The 2-2 layout is particularly ideal for couples, with no dreaded “middle seat” in play, and even for solo travellers there’s a maximum of one seat to climb over to reach the aisle, or one stranger in a window seat needing to get past you if you’re at the aisle position.

Having flown on an E190 (E1 – first generation) a couple of times in Europe, I can assure you the overhead locker space is no match for an A320 or 787, but otherwise it’s a perfectly pleasant jet experience, and the 2-2 seating is a definite plus.

The good news for the E2 is that overhead lockers are 40% larger than their predecessors, with the manufacturer claiming that “each passenger on the aircraft can stow his/her own standard-size carry-on bag in the bins”.

One toilet at the front and one at the rear of the cabin will give passengers a seat-to-toilet ratio of 56:1, the best of any Scoot aircraft in Economy Class.

Scoot Economy Class seat-to-toilet ratio
(worst to best)

Aircraft	Seat-to-toilet ratio
Boeing 787-9	68:1
Boeing 787-8	63:1
Boeing 787-8 (Bunk)	62:1
Airbus A320neo	62:1
Airbus A320	60:1
Airbus A321neo	59:1
Embraer E190-E2	56:1

Source: Scoot / aeroLOPA

Two pilots and three cabin crew will operate the E190-E2 aircraft, a saving of only one cabin crew member compared to the carrier’s Airbus A320 flights.

Scoot will have a fleet of five E190-E2 jets by the end of 2024, with the remaining four on order expected to be delivered in 2025.

Notably, Scoot’s introduction of the E190-E2 will mark the first time that the Singapore Airlines Group has operated any aircraft other than from the primary manufacturers Airbus and Boeing since 2000, when the last Fokker 70 left the SilkAir fleet.

Earn but don’t burn miles on Scoot

As you probably recall, you’ll earn some KrisFlyer miles based on the cash fare for your Scoot flight, which is always better than nothing.

On the redemption side, however, KrisFlyer works on a fixed value basis for offsetting Scoot cash fares at a terrible 0.95 Singapore cents per mile.

Our ‘golden rule’ when flying Scoot, therefore, is that you should be saving your precious KrisFlyer miles for their true value – a Singapore Airlines redemption – not a Scoot booking!

It means Scoot won’t offer a good KrisFlyer miles redemption option on its Koh Samui route, like SilkAir used to, because awards on the low-cost carrier are revenue-based, and terrible value.

The Bangkok Airways redemption option

Luckily there are several good ways to redeem miles on Bangkok Airways flights to and from Koh Samui, starting at 6,000 miles one-way, as we recently analysed in this dedicated article.

You can search award space on Bangkok Airways flights between Singapore and Koh Samui via Qantas Frequent Flyer or Air France-KLM Flying Blue sites.

For both of these programmes, you’ll need to be logged in to your frequent flyer account in order to perform an award search, but you can do so even with a zero balance in your account.

There’s a fantastic 6,000 Avios one-way option in play using either Qatar Airways Avios or British Airways Avios (and soon Finnair Avios too), and it offers great value especially when cash fares are high.

We found a value per mile upwards of 4.5 cents on some dates – a far cry from the 0.95 cents you’ll get redeeming KrisFlyer miles on Scoot.

Indeed the lack of a good KrisFlyer redemption option with Scoot, like there was in the SilkAir days, could make it an even less attractive choice than a redemption on Bangkok Airways, depending on the fares and award availability on your preferred travel dates.

If fares are high – the Avios option is probably better – and don’t forget Bangkok Airways provides a full-service experience with better legroom, free meals and complimentary drinks on board, including beer and wine.

Here’s how Bangkok Airways’ twice daily flight schedule looks on the Singapore – Koh Samui route during the northern summer season between now and late October 2024.

Singapore ⇄ Koh Samui
31st March 2024 – 26th October 2024

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	PG968 A319
SIN 17:20		USM 18:25
	PG962 A319
SIN 20:15		USM 21:20
	PG963 A319
USM 13:30		SIN 16:25
	PG961 A319
USM 16:25		SIN 19:20

Earlier this year, Bangkok Airways did load a third (lunchtime) flight on its Singapore – Koh Samui route into GDS on selected days during the summer season, but never made it available for sale and unfortunately has since removed it.

Other Scoot E190-E2 routes

While Koh Samui was certainly the destination announcement we were all waiting for, that won’t be the only port of call on the roster for these new E190-E2 jets.

In addition to Koh Samui from 13th May 2024, these aircraft will be deployed on the following services too:

• 🇹🇭 Hat Yai (from 7th May 2024)
  10 x weekly
• 🇹🇭 Krabi (from 7th May 2024)
  10 x weekly
• 🇲🇾 Miri (from 20th May 2024)
  4 x weekly
• 🇲🇾 Kuantan (from 3rd June 2024)
  4 x weekly
• 🇲🇾 Sibu (from 5th June 2024)
  3 x weekly

For Hat Yai and Krabi, 10 x weekly E190-E2 flights will replace existing 7 x weekly Airbus A320 flights for Scoot, which is a frequency increase but actually results in lower overall seat capacity of 1,120 per week in each direction (11% lower than the current 1,260 per week in each direction).

For Miri and Kuantan, 4 x weekly E190-E2 flights will replace existing 3 x weekly Airbus A320 flights for Scoot, which again is a frequency increase but again results in lower overall seat capacity of 448 per week in each direction (17% lower than the current 540 per week in each direction).

Like Koh Samui, Sibu in Malaysia is a new destination for Scoot.

Apart from Koh Samui, all of these airports on the E190-E2 network can also support Airbus A320 family operation, giving Scoot some essential flexibility against technical problems with the Embraers, while the fleet is small.

Scoot will be introducing its new Embraer E190-E2 regional jets into service in May 2024, a couple of months late but with the most anticipated destination on the list pretty much from the get-go – Koh Samui.

This will restore SIA Group passenger flights to and from the island for the first time since SilkAir suspended operations there in March 2020.

There are also five other regional routes in store for the initial two jets in their first few of months of service, which will benefit from the aircraft’s 2-2 cabin configuration, giving everyone a window or aisle seat – the ideal layout for couples.

Interestingly, on four existing routes Scoot is using the E190s to offer higher frequencies but lower overall capacity, with between 11% and 17% fewer seats on offer each week to Hat Yai, Krabi, Miri and Kuantan. This could actually result in increased fares to and from these cities.

A total of five E190-E2s will be part of the Scoot fleet by the end of 2024, with all nine due to be delivered by the end of 2025, so it will be interesting to see where else they are deployed on the network in the months ahead.

(Cover Photo: Shutterstock)