SINGAPORE: Scoot, the low cost long haul subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, has flown about 600,000 passengers after seven months of operation.
This means carrying about 85,000 travellers per month.
The carrier also has a passenger load factor of about 81 per cent and currently flies to eight destinations, including Tianjin, Shenyang and the Gold Coast.
Speaking at the "world's low cost airlines" conference on Thursday, CEO of Scoot Airlines Campbell Wilson was asked if the airline will be increasing its fleet and expanding its routes to cope with the ever growing demand for low cost travel in Southeast Asia.
Mr Wilson said: "We're taking a fifth aircraft this year end of May, early June, and we'll use that to add two or three more routes to the network. In terms of partnership, currently we work most closely with Tiger Airways, they have affiliates in other countries that we would look to expand our routes to. And furthermore there are airlines outside of Singapore and indeed outside of Southeast Asia that are quite interested to work with us. But its too premature to reveal who."
Scoot has introduced ScooTV, streaming inflight entertainment for passengers, and was the first to introduce iPads for rent.
Mr Wilson said it does not add to their costs at all.
"We only introduce these where there is a business benefit to us. We target to get over 20 per cent of our revenue from ancillary products of which entertainment is one. But as well as earning us money, it also helps the passenger. It's a win-win all round," he said.
Mr Wilson also commented on Boeing's Dreamliner despite the latest safety hiccups.
"The next aircraft we take this year is a 777-200 and the ones after that are 787s. Boeing is keeping us fully informed of what's happening with the 787 investigations and rectification and we are confident in their ability to resolve the issue under the purview of the regulators, and we look forward to taking the aircraft on schedule in November 2014. We have commitment for 20 Dreamliners," he said.
Several Scoot flights were recently hit by a series of passenger complaints stemming from flight delays and alleged technical faults.
Mr Wilson said: "The challenges are real. When you have a small fleet flying high utilisation. Anything whether its a weather delay, whether its a typhoon, fog in Tianjin today or storms in Gold Coast on Monday, they do affect aircraft schedules and sometimes have consequential effects. There's no avoiding that with a small fleet, but the high utilisation of aircraft is what allows us to offer low fares, so it's a bit of a quid pro quo.
"We're very clear to people what it is that we offer, we also make no secret what it is that we give in terms of compensation. The compensation is not just S$50, it can be more ranging to a full refund depending on the circumstances.
"Clearly, unit costs is unavoidable for operating an airline, unit revenue and engagement. You can't operate a business if you don't have low cost, you can't cover those cost if you don't have decent revenue and you don't have revenue if people don't like you."
- CNA/de
Scoot airlines to increase fleet, expand routes
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Scoot airlines to increase fleet, expand routes
