Scoot (TR, Singapore Changi) has become the latest Southeast Asian budget airline to announce plans to start longhaul flights to Europe. In a statement issued via social media on Tuesday, August 16, the Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi) subsidiary said it would offer 4x weekly Singapore Changi-Athens, Greece flights using B787-8 metal effective June 20, 2017.
Scoot operations currently focus on Southeast Asia, India, China, the Middle East, and Australia using a fleet of five B787-8s and six B787-9s.
Earlier this month, ch-aviation broke news that Scoot's Malaysian rival AirAsia X (D7, Kuala Lumpur International) was planning to return to Europe with a daily Kuala Lumpur International to Barcelona El Prat, Spain via Istanbul Atatürk, Turkey service effective October 30. However, the AirAsia (AK, Kuala Lumpur International) unit has since removed the route's entry from the Global Distribution System (GDS) claiming it was simply a "test."
At present, Norwegian (Oslo Gardermoen) is the only LCC active in the Europe-Southeast Asian market serving Bangkok Suvarnabhumi from its Copenhagen Kastrup, Oslo Gardermoen, and Stockholm Arlanda Scandinavian hubs.
