Scoot is just fresh from the merger with Tigerair in July 2017. The merger has seen Tigerair being absorbed by the Scoot brand. While Tigerair appears to be the more known brand to Filipino travelers, Scoot is not as prominent here in the Philippines. Can you tell us a bit more about Scoot and how it came to be the more ascendant brand in this new merger?
Scoot is the low-cost arm of the Singapore Airlines Group and presently operates routes to 61 countries across 16 countries, with Harbin and Honolulu to join the network soon in December, and Kuantan in February next year. We have 27 flights a week out of the Philippines from our ports in Cebu, Clark, Kalibo and Manila.

Scoot was traditionally the low-cost, medium-to-long haul carrier under the Singapore Airlines group, while Tigerair operated in the low-cost, short-haul space. Tigerair’s brand presence and strong Southeast Asia network strongly complemented and provided the required regional feed for Scoot’s medium-to-long haul network. After fully acquiring Tigerair in 2016 and delisting it, Singapore Airlines integrated both Scoot and Tigerair under a single holding company to streamline operations, culminating in a merger of both companies under a single Scoot brand.

The Scoot brand was retained because of the distinctiveness and strength of the brand, which sets us apart from other low-cost carriers and I believe will take us through this next stage of growth. Scoot has been a transformative force in the low-cost travel industry, elevating the budget travel experience with the comfortable, wide-bodied 787 Dreamliners in our fleet and our range of innovative products and services. We also aim to deliver a service experience that is spontaneous, warm, cheeky and fun; a spirit which we term “Scootitude,” best exemplified by our friendly cabin crew. These efforts to distinguish ourselves have gained us industry and consumer recognition, where Scoot has been awarded Best Low-cost Airline (Asia/ Pacific) for four consecutive years (since 2015) by AirlineRatings.com, and we have also been Marketing Magazine’s Marketer of the Year for three years running. In the long run, we believe that the Scoot brand has better potential for brand recall and customer conversion.

We learned that as one of the benefits of the merger, the new company now will have a wider coverage, featuring new destinations that include long haul ones. What are these new destinations and why choose these places as your new destinations?
New destinations which we announced in July are Kuching, Kuantan, Harbin, Honolulu and Palembang. Many factors come into play when choosing new destinations and a holistic view is adopted, taking into account each airline within the Singapore Airlines Group, including Singapore Airlines (long-haul, full service), SilkAir (short-haul, full-service) and Scoot (short-mid long haul, low- cost). Commercial considerations include demand for and from the destinations, the costs of operating in these places, the suitability of our product for the market, incumbent competition, and more.

While there have been expansions and additions from the merger, there must be some things that had to be let go off. What are these and what has been the reaction of the market to such?
Closing the chapter on Tigerair and introducing Scoot in markets where consumers are only familiar with Tigerair was a challenge. For example, consumers may not realise that although Tigerair is no longer in operation, they can still fly on its routes as Scoot has taken over them. They may not know about Scoot’s 787 Dreamliner product either, because Tigerair only operated Airbus A320s. To help educate consumers in these markets about Scoot and its various products, we have stepped up our marketing and communications initiatives.

Are there efforts being made to tap more of the Philippine market? What are these efforts and when will they be fully implemented?
We plan to increase frequency to and from our existing points in the Philippines within the next five years, which will give our Filipino guests greater connectivity to our Singapore hub to fly to other destinations and travelers more options when visiting the Philippines. We currently fly to four points in Philippines and we constantly review our network to consider the feasibility of adding more points.

While Scoot has a strong Singaporean and South East Asian presence, what other international markets is the company planning to capture, and what does the airline intend to do to tap these travelers?
Scoot’s network across 16 countries is predominantly in the Asia Pacific and we have a significant presence in parts of North Asia. In fact, we have extensive footprints in China and India, and we operate hubs out of Taiwan and Japan as well. Outside of Asia, our reach extends to Greece and the United States.

For travelers who prefer to travel with a low-cost carrier, Scoot provides an enhanced inflight experience with the superior features of the 787 Dreamliners in its fleet for selected routes, particularly mid-to-long haul operations. We also aim to deliver a different service experience through our Scootitude spirit, and this cuts across all routes, whether long, medium or short haul.

You have been in the travel sector for decades now. We believe you would agree that people are getting more and more mobile now, and more and more capable of spending for travel. What factors do you think led to this development?
There has been an emergence of more middle-class consumers and with greater disposal income, demand for leisure travel will increase. With the internet and increased connectivity, consumers are also becoming savvier about the travel options available. Scoot is well-placed to capture this growth thanks to our competitive pricing, good product offerings and extensive network.

For those who have no idea yet where to go for the holidays, what Scoot destinations would you suggest for them to book and why?
If you are looking for a wintery good time this holiday season, why not visit Harbin in northeastern China or Sapporo in Japan? Scoot recently launched new seasonal non-stop flights to these cities via Singapore, which are operated on our comfortable wide-bodied 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

Harbin, also known as the ‘Ice City”, is famous for the ubiquitous illuminated ice sculptures on display during the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival from December to February. In Sapporo, another snowy dreamland perfect for skiing, slurp on piping hot ramen and warm up with a can of the popular local beer.

Our three-times-weekly flights to Harbin will operate on a seasonal basis starting Dec. 1, 2017 to March 23, 2018. The seasonal Sapporo non-stop flights will started last Nov. 3, 2017 and will run until Feb. 11, 2018, with up to two flights a week, on top of existing flights routed via Taipei.