Low-cost Singapore-based airline Scoot has outlined plans to triple the number of weekly flights to and from China by April in what shapes as yet another boost to the sovereign state’s tourism industries.
The company, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, said Wednesday that it will initially increase its total flights to China from 14 times weekly to 26 times weekly by 25 March, including increased frequencies to existing ports Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Qingdao, Tianjin and Zhengzhou.
This will then increase to 42 flights weekly by the end of April, with flights resuming to Haikou, Ningbo and Xi’an in April 2023, and to 57 weekly flights by June with services to Nanning and Shenyang resuming.
“Scoot has been anticipating the return of travel to and from China and we will scale up operations to meet the demand from this sizeable market,” said Scoot’s CEO, Leslie Thng.
“We will also ramp up frequencies to other popular summer destinations as customers continue to seek travel to connect with loved ones, explore new cultures and create new experiences. This year, we aspire to continue redefining value-travel by providing our customers with safe and seamless travel journeys, quality service, differentiated products and experiences at affordable fares.”
Scoot said it also plans to ramp up flight frequencies to the likes of Australia, Greece, Indonesia, Japan and Malaysia ahead of the northern hemisphere summer.
The update comes just days after Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan urged Chinese authorities to restore flight capacity between the two nations to pre-COVID levels as soon as possible in a bid to improve business and tourism ties.