SIA Group to ramp up flights post-Jetstar Asia exit; Scoot to take over Okinawa, Labuan Bajo routes

Business Times

21 hours ago

[SINGAPORE] National carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA) and its budget arm Scoot will ramp up flights to various Asian destinations after Singapore-based low-cost carrier Jetstar Asia ceases operations on July 31.
Jetstar Asia operates about 180 weekly services at Changi Airport and carried about 2.3 million passengers in 2024, accounting for around 3 per cent of the airport's total traffic. The airline announced on June 11 that it would close, citing rising costs and competition.
To fill the gap, Scoot plans to launch new flights to Okinawa in Japan and Labuan Bajo in Jakarta - both destinations that Jetstar Asia serves exclusively from Changi Airport. The links would have been lost with the closure of the Qantas subsidiary.
In response to The Straits Times' queries about whether SIA Group would step in on some of the 16 routes that will be impacted by Jetstar Asia's exit, an SIA spokesperson said it will adjust its flight schedules and network to support the demand for air travel in the region.
This is subject to regulatory approval and alignment with the group's airline partners, SIA said on June 12. Its spokesperson said full flight schedules will be made public in due course.
'The SIA Group continues to monitor the demand for air travel and adjust our network and capacity as needed,' the spokesperson added.
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If all goes to plan, Scoot will start to increase its number of flights to Bangkok in August, to 39 services per week, up from 35 currently. This will go up to 42 flights a week from Oct 26.
From August, Scoot will also fly 28 times a week to Penang, up from 21 times a week now.
For the Singapore-Manila route, the full-service SIA will increase its flights from 28 to 35 per week.
Meanwhile, Scoot will continue to fly to the Filipino capital 14 times weekly, but half of these flights will use larger Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets, which can seat more than 300 passengers.
This is instead of its smaller narrow-body Airbus A320 and A321 planes, which can seat between 180 and 236 people.
Scoot will also be increasing its weekly flights to Clark in the Philippines from five to seven. Jetstar Asia had earlier suspended its Singapore-Clark flights in May.
Between Oct 26, 2025, and March 28, 2026, another five cities in Asia will get more SIA or Scoot flights as well.
During this period, SIA plans to add three more flights to Colombo in Sri Lanka, up from seven a week today, and seven more flights to Jakarta, up from 63 a week now.
For its Phuket flights, the full-service airline plans to increase its frequency from 30 to 35 times a week, to 42 times a week. It will also use larger aircraft on more of its flights to Bali.
Scoot also plans to operate more flights to Bali, Jakarta, Phuket and Surabaya in Indonesia for the period between Oct 26, 2025, and March 28, 2026.
As for its new flights, the budget carrier plans to operate services to Okinawa four times a week and Labuan Bajo twice weekly.
It will also start daily flights to the Indonesian city of Medan. If approved, these three services will be launched sometime between October 2025 and March 2026, said the spokesperson.
Jetstar Asia, which has been flying out of Singapore for more than two decades, is being wound down as part of a strategic restructure by Qantas, which is looking to refocus on its home market in Australia.
More than 500 employees in Singapore will be laid off due to the closure, and SIA Group has said it is exploring employment opportunities within the airline group for retrenched staff from the budget carrier.
Jetstar Asia, which was struggling to turn a consistent profit and has been buffeted by rising costs and intense competition, said on June 11 that it will continue to operate flights out of Singapore for the next seven weeks, with a progressively reduced schedule until its final day of operations on July 31.
According to Aeroroutes, a website that tracks airline schedule changes, Jetstar Asia will cancel all its flights to Medan, Krabi and Penang. It will also start cutting flights to Bangkok, Bali, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Phuket from June 16.
Changi Airport Group (CAG) had said of the 16 routes affected by Jetstar Asia's closure, 12 are served by 18 other airlines offering more than 1,000 weekly services, and the airport operator would actively engage other airlines to fill the gap where additional capacity is needed.
CAG said it will also work to restore connectivity to the four destinations served exclusively by the budget carrier from Changi. There is no word yet on whether other airlines will step in to restore services to Broome in Australia and Wuxi in China.
Industry analysts had said that Jetstar Asia's exit presents an opportunity for other carriers like Scoot to expand and take over the airline's landing and take-off slots, especially those during morning and evening peak hours.
CAG had said the take-off and landing slots that are returned by Jetstar Asia will go back to the pool for reallocation, and this will be done in accordance with international guidelines to support Singapore air hub's connectivity, while taking into account Changi Airport's capacity considerations. THE STRAITS TIMES