BackSingapore’s Scoot plans to fly to India by March end
Scoot will fly from three cities by end of May including one south Indian metro and tier 2 cities in north India
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Mumbai: Scoot Pte, the low-cost and medium haul airline arm of Singapore Airlines Group, will start flying to India from March end subject to regulatory approvals, according to Bharath Mahadevan, country head of the airline.
Scoot will fly from three cities by end of May including one south Indian metro and tier 2 cities in north India, he said.
“We are awaiting final approvals from aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for flying to India from Singapore. We have all necessary ground handling and technical assistance in India ready to support our flights," Mahadevan said.
Singapore Airlines Group also owns full service airline Silk Air and a majority stake in low-cost airline Tiger Air. All of them fly to India.
“I don’t believe there is market for point to point services for an international low cost airline out of India. But in our case, we are going to position ourselves as network airline by connecting to the network of Tiger Airways and Singapore Airways," Mahadevan said.
He said Scoot will not fly to destinations where its partner airlines are flying.
India was tough market for international airlines, especially the India—Singapore route. AirAsia X and Jetstar Asia had to discontinue Indian operations owing to losses. IndiGo, run by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, had to realign its India-Singapore flights.
Scoot claims that it unashamedly has no frills, with fares including seat-only and offers products and services charged separately.
Scoot operates wide-bodied Boeing 787 planes, also known as Dreamliners.
An airline consultant requesting anonymity said it is tough to fill a wide-bodied plane from a non-metro Indian city.
“Singapore Airlines Group has been focussing on metro cities. It may be able to feed in traffic from an Indian metro city to Singapore via Scoot. But its tough to fill a large aircraft from a small city," he said.
However, Mahadevan was convinced about the business model.
“We will be offering 15-50% cheaper fares than existing Indian airlines such as Air India and Jet Airways," Mahadevan said, talking at the sidelines of a seminar organized by consultancy CAPA India.
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