Scoot unveils launch dates for new Indian services

Singapore Airlines budget offshoot Scoot has announced launch dates for three new routes to India as part of a wider restructuring involving sister airline SilkAir. The first of Scoot’s new Indian routes launches in May and comes as the carrier is also heading to Laos from April 1 with three times weekly flights from Singapore to Luang Prabang and Vientiane. The Laos flights will launch in time for Loa New Year, a two-day festival that sees tourists and locals battling it out with water pistols, buckets and hoses. Scoot chief executive Lee Lik Hsin said the move into Laos would boost the airline ’s proposition as a network carrier “offering refreshing travel opportunities for those seeking authentic experiences off the beaten track”. Scoot’s Indian expansion sees it take over routes previously operated by SilkAir. It begins May 7 with five times weekly flights to Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala and dubbed India’s Evergreen City because of its lush tropical landscapes. Five times weekly flights to textile and manufacturing center Coimbatore and tourist hub Visakhapatnam start from October 27. Visakhapatnam is famed for tourist sites such as the Red Sand Hills and the Borra Caves as well as its beaches while Coimbatore, surrounded by the Western Ghats mountain range, boats the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Siruvani Waterfalls. Singapore Airlines announced in May 2017 that SilkAir would be merged with the parent airline after undergoing a $100m cabin refurbishment. The multi-year initiative will see the wholly-owned subsidiary get new lie-flat seats in business class and seat-back entertainment in business and economy cabins. Scoot announced in November that it was suspending services to Hawaii from the middle of 2019 as part of a route reshuffle that would see some SilkAir routes move to the budget carrier and some Scoot services move to the full-service operations. READ Scoot scotches Hawaii in route reshuffle