Singapore's budget airline Scoot Airways launches Jaipur service; adds third city in 4 months

With India attracting several foreign airlines in recent years following the relaxation in FDI (foreign direct investment) rules, Singapore-based low-cost airline, Scoot Airways has been steadily testing waters in the country’s growing domestic aviation space.  Scoot Airways, the long-haul budget arm of Singapore Airlines, started its third service in India by launching its inaugural flight to Jaipur yesterday (Monday) night. Scoot has been operating in India for some time now. In May this year, it began operating flights to Chennai and Amritsar. As per the schedule, the company’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner flights will operate from Singapore to Jaipur on Monday, Friday and Sunday, while flights from Jaipur to Singapore are scheduled on Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. Scoot will fly to Jaipur three times a week, which will be increased to four from the month-end, acording to a press release. Scoot is the fourth airline from the island city-state to have established its presence in the world’s fastest growing aviation market, which has been logging over 20 percent growth for around two years now. “The response from Chennai and Amritsar has been phenomenal so far and with the Jaipur launch, our spirits are soaring. We see India as a promising market. We are hopeful of a strong foothold in India with our exceptional offers and features like in-flight connectivity and in-seat power,” Scoot’s India head Bharath Mahadevan said. Besides parent Singapore Airlines (SIA), two of its subsidiaries – Tiger Air and Silk Air – also operate to India at present. SIA also holds 49 percent stake in Indian full-service carrier Vistara, in which Tata Sons is the majority stake holder with 51 percent. On extending services to other cities in India, Scoot is also considering connecting to smaller cities like Kochi, The Indian Express reported in May. Besides competitive pricing, Scoot also expects to achieve 80 percent occupancy on its flights from Amritsar and Jaipur, while it expects to do better with the more mature Chennai route, The Indian Express report said. With agency inputs