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Budget carrier Scoot aims to fly to Honolulu, Hawaii by year-end

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SINGAPORE - Budget travellers in Singapore can look forward to an "aloha" getaway with plans by Scoot to fly to Honolulu, famed for its Waikiki beach among other attractions.



The service, with a stop in Osaka, Japan, is pending approval from the authorities in the United States, The Straits Times understands.



If all goes well, the new flight operated by the Singapore Airlines (SIA) subsidiary could be launched by the end of the year.



The seventh Singapore-US link will be a boon to Changi Airport which is out to establish itself as the preferred airport and hub for both full-service and budget travellers.



As part of plans to strengthen the SIA group amid intense competition especially in the premium sector, the airline has been expanding its budget operations through subsidiaries Scoot which operates medium- and long-haul flights, and Tigerair which operates shorter flights within the region.



Both are in the midst of an integration and by the end of July, are expected to operate under a single brand.










Scoot which currently flies within the Asia-Pacific, Australia and India, will launch its maiden route to Europe in June, with flights to Athens.



Its planned Singapore-Honolulu link will come hot on the heels of a Kuala Lumpur-Osaka-Honolulu service that Malaysian rival AirAsia X intends to launch at the end of June.



The Straits Times has reached out to Scoot for comments.



http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/budget-carrier-scoot-aims-to-fly-to-honolulu-hawaii-by-year-end?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&xtor=CS1-10#link_time=1494472190


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SQ (or SIN in general) already has excellent USA connectivity by ASEAN measure. Would that benefit Scoot in the long run?

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With much stronger currency and better aircraft in terms of comfort, reliability and cost of operation, Singaporeans' affinity with Japanese and USA, TZ will perform much better than D7 in both sectors. They only need to tackle how to market themselves in both countries. Visa on arrival for Singaporeans is another win. The KIX-HNL sector will soon be saturated with many players, as much as I like D7 to do well, they are clearly an underdog here.

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Small O&D market + spoiling D7's flights obviously

Yes, I think it is a somewhat defensive move on their part - they don't want D7 to have it plain sailing into the US market.

With much stronger currency and better aircraft in terms of comfort, reliability and cost of operation, Singaporeans' affinity with Japanese and USA, TZ will perform much better than D7 in both sectors. They only need to tackle how to market themselves in both countries. Visa on arrival for Singaporeans is another win. The KIX-HNL sector will soon be saturated with many players, as much as I like D7 to do well, they are clearly an underdog here.

It is going to be interesting to see how these two will be able to establish themselves in the ASEAN-US market.

 

I think that it is now obvious that D7 will need the A350 to be a more effective competitor on genuine long haul (>12 hour) routes.

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Scoot still needs to pick up passengers from Osaka to Honolulu as its one of the if not the top destination for japanese. If Scoot fly direct non-stop, it may not be able to have 350 passengers from s'pore to honolulu, altho the aircraft is able to fly non-stop is not an issue. However, in terms of pricing and the route and given that s'poreans do not need a US visa to the US, Scoot may have an advantage over D7. As for malaysians, the US visa alone costs like close to rm700, plus its not really easy to get one too.

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I'll be annoyed if I were AirAsiaX. Super.

 

The O&D market from either KL or Singapore to a place like Honolulu would be presumably small. Obviously both are relying on the Japanese market to bump up passenger numbers and make the route work.

 

However, Scoot stands a better chance of developing this market. The fact that Singaporeans can travel visa-free to the US and a strong Sing Dollar gives them a huge advantage over AAX.

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TZ 787 break even point should be lower than D7 A333, is a advantage.

And SQ Group can easily move their B787-10 or A350 to TZ if the latter needs more capacity is also a winner.

 

Interesting time ahead for long haul LCC.

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I'll be annoyed if I were AirAsiaX. Super.

 

The O&D market from either KL or Singapore to a place like Honolulu would be presumably small. Obviously both are relying on the Japanese market to bump up passenger numbers and make the route work.

 

However, Scoot stands a better chance of developing this market. The fact that Singaporeans can travel visa-free to the US and a strong Sing Dollar gives them a huge advantage over AAX.

Nothing to be annoyed. Tony always welcome competition.

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The competition will be good for the consumers.

Scoot has the advantage as Singaporeans travel visa free, strong Sing dollar and if the market is healthy, with their 787s, they can switch to direct flights. Basically Scoot has more options.

 

Malaysian travel visas to the US is the first hurdle to cross in terms of cost and accessibility.

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Nothing to be annoyed. Tony always welcome competition.

Yes, the Tan Sri believes that competition improves the breed. It is a good challenge for the AllStars and will be good for the consumers!

TZ 787 break even point should be lower than D7 A333, is a advantage.

I think D7 boasts a lot about their lowest CASK in the world! D7 has the advantage of a good low cost hub in klia2 plus a weak MYR. Scoot is also not using the most economic aircraft in their fleet - the B788 is not a low cost leader by any means and the B789 is probably at the same level as the A333. The strong SGD means that its staff and main hub costs at SIN will be significantly higher than those at KUL.

Edited by flee

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Yes, the Tan Sri believes that competition improves the breed. It is a good challenge for the AllStars and will be good for the consumers!

 

I think D7 boasts a lot about their lowest CASK in the world! D7 has the advantage of a good low cost hub in klia2 plus a weak MYR. Scoot is also not using the most economic aircraft in their fleet - the B788 is not a low cost leader by any means and the B789 is probably at the same level as the A333. The strong SGD means that its staff and main hub costs at SIN will be significantly higher than those at KUL.

Lower CASK only matters when is fully loaded. Before CASK matter, one need to break even first. The one first to break even is likely to sustain.

 

Between kix and hnl, both are on level playing ground.

Edited by KK Lee

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Lower CASK only matters when is fully loaded. Before CASK matter, one need to break even first. The one first to break even is likely to sustain.

 

Between kix and hnl, both are on level playing ground.

D7 has made significant gains in their load factors in the past 12 months. Their Q1 2017 load factor now stands at 84% and their newly launched KUL-KIX-HNL is almost sold out for the first six months! They are now looking to increase the frequency.

 

D7 also has resource sharing agreements with Airasia Japan and other sister airlines in the Airasia/Airasia X Groups. Their fixed operating costs are generally lower than their competitors'.

With such measures, their break even point should be lower.

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For D7, their overseas operations ie for Japan and Honolulu will not be low as like within Malaysia or Asean. this is because D7 have to pay in USD and given rm high exchange rate with USD, its not really an advantage for D7 - as say compared to Scoot and with SGD to US exhange rate far favourable than rm. Even then D7 and AK have to pay for ther aircrafts in USD and that too is not favourable given the poor rm to USD exchange. And Scoot new 787 will be more fuel efficient than current D7 A333s non-neo.

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For D7, their overseas operations ie for Japan and Honolulu will not be low as like within Malaysia or Asean. this is because D7 have to pay in USD and given rm high exchange rate with USD, its not really an advantage for D7 - as say compared to Scoot and with SGD to US exhange rate far favourable than rm. Even then D7 and AK have to pay for ther aircrafts in USD and that too is not favourable given the poor rm to USD exchange. And Scoot new 787 will be more fuel efficient than current D7 A333s non-neo.

Like I said in my earlier posting, D7 has a shared services agreement with Airasia Japan - so they share costs with the sister airline in Japan. Yes, forex is always a risk and Malaysian businesses are more vulnerable to forex dips than those in Singapore.

 

With oil prices where they are now (around USD 50), fuel savings is not such a big deal anymore. That is why many airlines are keeping their old wide bodies (and postponing the delivery of new A350/B787s) because the capital/leasing cost of brand new factory fresh aircraft is higher than the fuel savings delta.

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