KUALA LUMPUR: Singapore's budget carrier Scoot Pte Ltd's expansion into Malaysia bodes well for the neighbouring countries as more direct flights between Singapore Changi Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) are available.
Aviation consultancy Endau Analytics founder and aviation analyst Shukor Yusof said Scoot sees more opportunities in intra-Asean air travel including Malaysia.
"Relations between both nations (Singapore and Malaysia) have never been this good since separation in 1965 and both Malaysia and Singapore are keen to extend this bromance and forge closer ties," he told Business Times today.
Changi Airport said in a statement that Malaysia is among its top five markets for the second quarter of 2024.
The other markets include Australia, China, India and Indonesia.
From April to June 2024, the Singaporean airport saw 13.4 per cent increase in the number of passengers.
Changi Airport handled 16.5 million passenger movements in the second quarter and 89,300 aircraft movements including landings and take-offs.
In May this year, Scoot chief executive officer Leslie Thng said Malaysia is a market that is important for Scoot given its close proximity to Singapore.
"Malaysia has been a market that is important for Scoot because we are close neighbours. We look at Malaysia as a whole market so that is where we decided to deploy the E190-E2 (aircraft)," he said at a media briefing held in conjunction with Scoot's first E2's flight to Thailand.
On Tuesday (6 Aug), Scoot announced two new Southeast Asia destinations namely Malacca and Kertajati (Greater Bandung), Indonesia from Changi Airport.
The airline said flights to Malacca will be served five-times weekly from Oct 23 while flights to Kertajati will commence on Sept 28 twice-weekly.
With the addition of Malacca and Kertajati into its network, Scoot will operate 115 weekly flights direct to Malaysia and 78 weekly flights to Indonesia by October 2024.
The new destinations were announced in conjunction with the delivery of Scoot's third and fourth Embraer E190-E2 aircraft in Singapore in September and October.
Scoot named its third and fourth Brazilian-made single-aisle aircraft as "Jalan-Jalan" and "Travel Kaki".
"We're excited to announce the addition of another two new destinations to our growing network – Kertajati in Indonesia and Malacca in Malaysia.
"Since the launch of our E190-E2 aircraft in May, we continue to see strong demand for our flights, which have connected many of our customers to/from our various destinations across Southeast Asia," Leslie said in a statement.
Scoot will also to Subang Airport or the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah (SAAS) Airport starting Sept 1.
The daily Singapore-Subang flight will be operated using the carrier's Airbus A320 aircraft.
Shukor viewed that the distance between Singapore and Malacca airports would not tempt those in Singapore to fly.
"Most people drive or take the bus and while Malacca is a lovely historical and foodie destination, it pales in comparison to say, Penang or Kota Kinabalu," he said.
Apart from Subang Airport, Scoot is still flying to KLIA Terminal 2 as well as Ipoh, Kota Kinabalu, Kuantan, Kuching, Langkawi, Miri, Penang and Sibu.
Scoot ordered nine new E190-E2 aircraft under a lease agreement with Florida-based aircraft lessor, Azorra in 2023.
The arrival of its first and second Embraer airplanes and its inaugural flight in May made Scoot the first airline in Southeast Asia to operate the E190-E2 type aircraft.
Scoot said it will also deploy its E190-E2 airplanes to some of its existing routes in October, including twice weekly flights to Pekanbaru in addition to its thrice weekly flights on its A320 aircraft.
The airline will also increase its flight frequencies from three to four-times weekly to Balikpapan and Makassar while in November, it will operate the E190-E2 aircraft nine-times weekly to Davao.
From December, Scoot will fly four-times every week to Vientiane, the capital of Laos from three-times weekly currently.