Scoot to launch flights to Okinawa, Labuan Bajo in wake of Jetstar Asia's exit

CNA

21 hours ago

SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines (SIA) and its low-cost carrier Scoot will increase flight frequencies across their networks and add new destinations following Jetstar Asia's announcement that it will cease operations on Jul 31.
In response to CNA's queries, an SIA spokesperson said on Friday (Jun 13) that the ramp-up, subject to regulatory approval, will take effect from August.
The closure of Jetstar Asia will see flights on 16 routes terminated, with four routes out of Singapore - Broome (Australia), Labuan Bajo (Indonesia), Okinawa (Japan) and Wuxi (China) - directly affected they are exclusively operated by the airline.
Scoot is preparing to step in, with a maximum of four weekly flights to Okinawa and twice weekly flights to Labuan Bajo planned during the northern winter season, which runs from Oct 26 to Mar 28. The airline is also planning to launch daily flights to Medan, Indonesia.
Flight schedules will be shared in due course and are subject to regulatory approval and alignment with the group's airline partners, said the spokesperson.
"The SIA Group continues to monitor the demand for air travel and adjust our network and capacity as needed."
As for other destinations, Scoot intends to boost its frequencies to 28 flights a week to Penang, 39 weekly flights to Bangkok and seven flights a week to Clark, Philippines from August.
SIA plans to increase its flights to Manila to 35 times a week, while half of Scoot's 14 weekly flights to the Philippines capital will be using a larger jet.
Scoot will further increase its weekly Bangkok flights to 42 during the northern winter season, while flights to Phuket will go up to 21 times weekly. In addition, SIA intends to operate 42 weekly flights to Phuket.
Jakarta will also see increased flight frequencies, with 70 SIA flights a week and 35 weekly Scoot flights for that period.
Scoot will raise its flights to Bali to 28 times weekly, while SIA will use larger aircraft on more flights to the Indonesian island.
SIA will also operate 10 flights a week to Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Scoot will launch 12 flights per week to Surabaya, Indonesia.
Jetstar Asia, which first began its operations in December 2004, operates about 180 weekly flights from Changi Airport, Changi Airport Group (CAG) noted.
The Singapore-based low-cost subsidiary of Qantas will continue flights for the next seven weeks on a "progressively reduced schedule" before closing for good.
The airline carried approximately 2.3 million passengers at Changi Airport in 2024, accounting for around 3 per cent of the airport's total passenger traffic.