KUALA LUMPUR: Long-haul low-cost carriers (LCC) based in Southeast Asia are starting to spread their wings to Europe as competition between the airlines heighten.
One such airline ready to take on Europe is Singapore's Scoot Pte Ltd, which announced that its maiden flight to the capital of Greece, Athens starts June 20, 2017.
Budget Aviation Holdings Pte Ltd (BAHP) chief commercial officer Leslie Thng said Scoot's move to fly to Europe is part of the Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group's strategic move to stimulate passenger traffic between Asia Pacific and Europe as well as boost connectivity through the Singapore hub.
"We believe that Athens is a place that we are able to bring our Scoot guests from Singapore, as well as from Southeast Asia. We are also relatively strong in Australia. In Australia, there are many Australians of Greek origin. This is a market that we are also targeting," he told a press conference here today after announcing the new destination.
The 11.5 hour direct flight from Singapore to Athens marks the longest flight operated by a budget carrier, with a flight distance exceeding 10,000km.
Scoot is one of the few budget carriers based in Southeast Asia that operates the wide-body B787 Dreamliner aircraft. The airline currently operates 11 B787 and is expecting delivery of its 12th aircraft this September.
It is also expecting four new B787 by April 2017 to service the Singapore-Athens route. The aircraft will be fitted with eight crew bunks and a total of 329 seats per aircraft.
Scoot plans to tap into Southeast Asian passengers, particularly Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, Langkawi and Penang), Indonesia and Thailand via its short-haul sister airline Tiger Airways Singapore Pte Ltd (Tiger Air).
The passengers from these destinations will be flown to Singapore first where they could hop on a Scoot to fly to Athens, said Thng.
In Malaysia, Tiger Air is flying out of Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2).
For the Singapore-Athens route, Scoot is offering standard or stretch seats ranging from 30-inch to 34-inch seat pitch as well as all-leather seats with a 38-inch seat pitch and adjustable leg rest.
The airline is also offering the ScootinSilence Economy child-free zone for a quiet travel environment as well as Wi-Fi plans, in-flight entertainment and 30kg check-in baggage allowance.
Scoot is offering attractive one-way economy fares between Malaysia and Athens from RM999, inclusive of taxes, for travel between June 20, 2017 and October 31, 2017. The promotion starts today and runs until August 31, 2016.
The budget carrier started operations in June 2012 and currently flies between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, Sydney, Gold Coast, Bangkok, Taipei, Tokyo, Seoul, Nanjing, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Chennai, to name a few.
The airline together with Tiger Air is currently owned and managed by BAHP. BAHP, formed in 2016, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SIA Group.
The Scoot fleet comprises the B787 Dreamliner as it focuses on medium-to-long haul destinations while Tiger Air offers short-to-medium haul flights on its Airbus A320 aircraft.