Singapore Airlines Group will transfer an unspecified number of B737s from its SilkAir (SLK, Singapore Changi) unit to Scoot (TR, Singapore Changi) to allow its budget carrier to more effectively compete with other Asian LCCs on regional routes.

In a statement to the Singaporean media last week, the group said the move was part of an existing strategy to optimize its overall network. Thus far, five SilkAir destinations - Kuching and Langkawi in Malaysia, Kalibo in the Philippines, and Pekanbaru and Palembang in Indonesia - have already been transferred to Scoot.

Last month, Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong told ch-aviation that "some" of Silk Air's A320 Family jets could also be deployed into service for Scoot on a rolling basis.

As part of the group's streamlining strategy, the full-service SilkAir will be absorbed into Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi) at some point in the next decade.

Aside from three A319-100s and eight A320-200s, SilkAir also operates seventeen B737-800s and five B737-8s (with a further thirty-two MAX due from Boeing (BOE, Washington National)).

Scoot currently operates two A319-100s, twenty-three A320-200s, ten B787-8s. and seven B787-9s on scheduled flights to 67 destinations covering Southeast and Northern Asia, Oceania, the Indian Subcontinent, the Middle East, Europe, and Hawaii.