Scoot eyes 2021 return to Sydney, Perth, GC

Singapore Airlines’ low-cost subsidiary Scoot hopes to return to all of its pre-COVID Australian destinations in early 2021.

Scoot Australia Country Manager Kirsty Lucas (left) and Edelman Associate Director Laura Cario

Speaking to Traveltalk at the airline’s end-of-year dinner in Sydney, Scoot Country Manager Australia Kirsty Lucas said she was surprised by how well flights out of its current sole base in Australia, Melbourne, had gone, but “coming into the first quarter of next year, there are plans to expand [back into Australia]”. 

“Scoot, pre-COVID, was operating out of Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast and Perth,” she told Traveltalk. 

“So we’ve got every intention of returning to that connectivity post-COVID.” 

Although Ms Lucas said there were no plans to expand beyond its original Aussie ports just yet, the Changi-based carrier is keeping an open mind towards new destinations down under. 

“We’re looking at all opportunities that are on the table; we’ve never seen anything like this [pandemic] before, so if there’s an opportunity to go somewhere different in Australia … Scoot is absolutely looking at those,” she remarked. 

“It just depends on whether the demand is there and what the potential is for us.” 

Lucas said Scoot’s combination of wide-body planes (specifically the Dreamliner) and narrow-body aircraft like its A320 and A321 NEOs would serve it well for both short haul and long haul opportunities moving forward. 

The carrier was also fortunate to have a strong parent company in Singapore Airlines, whose global profile could prove useful coming out of COVID-19, she added. 

Addressing guests at the event, Lucas called Scoot SIA’s “funky low-cost cousin”, an airline “for the young and young at heart”. Let’s hope it can bring its good vibes to more of Australia again soon.