Scoot’s overview of 2019

For Scoot, the low-cost arm of the Singapore Airlines Group, 2019 was all about encouraging travellers to escape the ordinary and driving initiatives to enhance the customer experience.

New Destinations

Scoot launched a total of 11 new destinations in 2019. In India, the airline launched services from Trivandrum, Visakhapatnam and Coimbatore, with increased flight frequencies[1]. The three new routes bring the total number of Indian cities served by the airline to seven, including Amritsar, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Tiruchirappalli. The top destinations for Scoot’s Indian travellers are Singapore, Bali, Melbourne, Sydney and Manila.

For the rest of the network, Scoot introduced eight new destinations across China, Laos, and Malaysia, including some off-beat locations like Luang Prabang and Kota Kinabalu to excite travellers. Scoot rounded the year up with a total of 68 destinations across 16 countries and plans to add six more destinations in Indonesia by the second half of 2020.

Photo: Mount Phousi in Luang Prabang, Laos.

Scoot also successfully moved operations in October from Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 2 to the newly refurbished Terminal 1, which boasts more self-service check-in facilities to enhance the pre-flight experience for customers. The move will facilitate Scoot’s double-digit annual growth for the next few years, and saw the airline carry its 65 millionth passenger on the same day.

Scoot further strengthened its expansion strategy with plans to add 16 brand-new A321neo aircraft to its fleet. The first aircraft, named ‘Wings of Change’, will be delivered in the last quarter of 2020 and will be used on routes within six hours (medium-haul markets).

Photo: Rendering of the new fleet of A321neo aircraft. (Credit: Airbus)

Enhancing the Customer Journey

As part of its mission to make travel attainable for all, in September Scoot waived payment processing fees globally for customers booking their flights through all its direct booking channels, such as its website and mobile app.

The airline’s online member portal Scoot Insider also accumulated a total of about 13,000 Insider members from India, who have access to benefits such as exclusive promotions and birthday discounts.

To cater to its growing Indian customer case, Scoot’s inflight menu has traditionally included some dishes with Indian spices as well as vegetarian options. The airline introduced its latest, refreshed Scoot Café menu in November, which is a new range of appetising hot and light meals, snacks, and beverages. Currently, the most popular meal of choice with Indian travellers is Scoot’s vegetarian and Jain-friendly meal – the Vegetable Biryani.

Photo: Vegetable Biryani boasts bold flavours and is a favourite.

In recognition of its growing scale and popularity with customers, Scoot has won back-to-back “Best Low-Cost Carrier” awards, at the TTG Travel Awards 2019 as well as at the Travel Weekly Asia 2019 Readers’ Choice Awards.

Photo: Scoot bagged the “Best Low-Cost Carrier” award at the TTG Travel Awards 2019.