Scoot to tap more tier II cities in India

Scoot, the low-cost long-haul carrier owned by Singapore Airlines, is eyeing greater opportunities in India’s tier II cities, looking at flights to Mangaluru, Guwahati, and Bhubaneswar, among others, over the next three to four years.

“We want to tap markets like Guwahati, Bhubaneswar and Mangaluru to name a few, as we become more bullish on tier II cities. This is our long-term goal, which could take three to four years. Metro cities have seat constraints, while there are 18 tier II cities with an ‘open skies policy’, which allows any number of flights to operate, and it is here that we see opportunities,” Scoot India Country Head Bharath Mahadevan told DH, adding that even Pune, Madurai and Chandigarh are under consideration, depending on the required bilaterals.

Mahadevan’s statement comes by the backdrop of Scoot merging with sibling Tigerair on Monday, in a bid to derive greater cost synergy, leading to offer seamless customer service. The merger will get both airlines under one brand ‘Scoot’ and sporting the same livery. Besides, Scoot’s fleet of 14 Boeing 787 Dreamliners with Tigerair’s 23 Airbus A320s will be able to serve respective circuits seamlessly — 65 destinations in total across 18 countries.

With its dual fleet operating in India, Scoot will fly Bengaluru, Lucknow, Thiruchirapalli, Kochi, Hyderabad and Jaipur with the A320, while Chennai and Amritsar will be served with the 787. In all, 50 weekly flights will be served between India and Singapore. Considering the entire Singapore Airlines Group — Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, Scoot, and Tigerair — 185 weekly flights are served between Singapore and India, through 15 destinations.

“There would be very little cannibalisation across our brands. As far as low-cost offerings are concerned, between Scoot and Tigerair, we enjoy 80% load factor, which is expected to grow by 3-4% after the merger, thanks to a unified network and competitive fares,” Mahadevan said.

Talking about the UDAN scheme, he said that Scoot would be benefited, as a lot of traffic is expected to come from neighbouring markets. “For instance, over the last few years, we've seen huge growth in leisure traffic to Singapore from various parts of Karnataka — Belagavi, Mysuru and Mangaluru, while we've also seen heavy growth in inbound tourists to Karnataka. We also want to increase flights to Bengaluru as well as other destinations in India," he added.