Singapore Airlines shows off Scoot low cost brand
What an ex-Singapore Airlines 777-200ER looks like covered in Scoot livery
Scoot might get called the ‘custard express’ or something less flattering, but Singapore Airlines today showed off the logo and livery of its new longer haul low cost brand, coming to Australia sometime next year.
The name has been known for nearly two months, ever since Singapore Airlines registered it. The color is not quite the same as that used on the Tiger A320 fleet.
Today’s announcement doesn’t add much to earlier guidance, however it is important because Singapore Inc, so to speak, had made known its displeasure at the airline’s declining performance in terms of contributing to traffic numbers at Changi Airport or to its tourism industry.
Similarly Singapore Airlines investors, including the major government interest held by Temasek Holdings, had also become unhappy with its dismal attempts to make its short haul Tiger Airways low cost franchise into a credible answer to the success of Malaysia based budget carrier Air Asia and its long haul Air Asia X division or even mix it with the Qantas owned Jetstar operation and its puppet Jetstar Asia carrier which is based in Singapore and controlled by Qantas.
Scoot is going to be a huge success, or else!
This is what the official announcement says:
Scoot is short, sharp and snappy.
Starting in mid-2012 with a fleet of four B777-200 aircraft purchased from parent company, Singapore Airlines (SIA), we’ll offer no-frills service on medium to long haul routes to and from Singapore. We will be managed and run independently from SIA, and already operate from separate offices.
Adhering to the low-frills spirit that has proven so popular in short haul arenas in Asia and around the world, Scoot will offer great value airfares up to 40% less than legacy carriers. Guests will be empowered to customize travel to suit their personal requirements, partaking of only those elements they want and not subsidizing the choices of others. Meals, preferred seats and baggage, amongst many other items, will all be available for selection.
Scoot, which will operate from Changi Airport Terminal 2, will offer two cabins. Specific seats, cabin features and offerings are currently being evaluated.
Our first-year destinations will include Australasia, China and others – some routes being completely new, others new to no-frills airline operations. The specific cities will be progressively announced over the coming months as negotiations with airports and tourism bodies progress. Flights will open for booking in the early part of 2012.
“The team building Scoot is passionate about this new airline, what it stands for and how it can change the way people travel long distance,” said CEO Campbell Wilson. “We’re equally passionate about incorporating Scootitude into all that we do. It promises to be a fun and exciting ride”.
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by Singapore Airlines shows off Scoot low cost brand | Plane Talking | Singapore Tour Expert by Thai Royal Travel on Nov 1, 2011 at 8:44 pm
I seem to recall some number of years ago that the Singapore government made it quite clear (was it during a SQ labour dispute with pilots?) that if they were ever forced to make a hard choice between the interests of Changi Airport or Singapore Airlines, that the airport was paramount due to the overall larger economic impact it had on the Singaporean economy.
Now in terms of SQ’s ongoing contribution to Singapore tourism, despite most SQ fares allowing “free” stopovers in Singapore, anyone reading this from Singapore Inc may want to take a much closer look at SQ’s actual policy/implementation of stopovers that may be effectively counter productive to their stated intention of encouraging people to spend time in Singapore thus boosting the economy.
Firstly, if you have purchased a through ticket on SQ and you subsequently change your mind and would like to now stopover to savour the delights of Singapore, you potentially may be hit with up to 3 separate charges!
SQ rightfully has to collect the payable Changi departure tax because you are now no longer just transiting.
Unfortunately the sting is that SQ now whacks you with an additional fee (often higher than the actual departure tax) because (in a throw back to the days of paper tickets) it has to perform a “re-issue” of your ticket in order to collect the tax.
On top of those two fees, you may then also be charged a date change fee in accordance with your ticket’s fare rules.
(Ironically simple date changes would only ever incur a possible date change fee despite it being SQ’s internal procedure to always re-isssue your ticket for any changes. Go figure!)
Your “free” stopover all of a sudden just became quite a bit more expensive all so you can spend money in the Singapore economy.
Secondly, and in my experience most frustratingly, SQ’s implementation of married segment logic can often make stopovers too difficult to ever even achieve despite the availability of through connecting flights on those same days.
(e.g. for a given booking class, there are connecting flights available BKK-SIN-MEL on both Tuesday and Friday, but it won’t allow you to book BKK-SIN on the Tuesday for a stopover and then fly SIN-MEL on the Friday.)
Personally I always thought that the idea of married segments was to stop savvy travel agents from booking BKK-SIN-MEL in the system to get the seat availability in a cheaper booking class and then cancelling the SIN-MEL sector before ticketing to lock in a cheaper price for BKK-SIN?
Clearly in the case of a stopover the passenger would still be flying on to MEL albeit on a different day.
Certainly on occasion I’ve been deterred by both these scenarios from taking a stopover in Singapore. I wonder how many others have also expressed interest but opted in the end to fly straight through?
by PJKidding on Nov 2, 2011 at 1:12 am
Whilst Tiger Airways Singapore is actually nicer than its Australian counterpart, it is still Tiger. enough said.
Air Asia may be a LCC but strangely enough they have succeeded in creating a personality for their brand. Their customer service has improved significantly as have their online systems.
And as much as they pride themselves on ancillary revenues, the smiles are still free!
However I would say that Air Asia X is no longer that cheap from Australia unless you manage to get one of the super early bird specials.
If its not peak season, often you can pick up a return flight from MEL/BNE to KUL/SIN on Emirates at around the same cost if not cheaper!
Let’s hope that with a fun name like Scoot that SQ tries to imbue some human touch and personality into the brand!
by PJKidding on Nov 2, 2011 at 1:33 am
Does rather look like its re-entering the atmosphere a bit too fast!
by cud chewer on Nov 2, 2011 at 5:15 am
Singapore Airlines must have lost the plot with the look of their low cost brands Tiger and Scoot. Jetstar looks very good compared to these two with a good logo and simple paint job. Tiger always looked like a joke with the busy paint job and the yellow and black tail. I cant see why Singapore Airlines with their wealth of experience got it so wrong with the low cost products.
by gapot on Nov 2, 2011 at 9:25 am
If you want a perfect example of marketing doublespeak and gobbledegook, read this on Scoot…
Singapore Airlines (SIA) has confirmed its wholly-owned low-cost medium-long-haul carrier will be named “Scoot” and operate Boeing 777-200s in a two-class configuration with economy seating 3-4-3, as CAPA reported in September. Scoot is preparing to launch services around mid-2012 on medium and long-haul routes from its Singapore base. It plans to pursue a relatively high growth in its first four years, with its fleet slated to reach 16 aircraft in mid-2016.
“We chose the name ‘Scoot’ for many reasons, not least because it‘s different. Rather than the tried and tired ‘airlines’ this, ‘airways’ that or ‘air’ yawn, it’s short, sharp and snappy. It stands out. It’s geographically independent, and can be a verb or a noun. Besides difference, it conveys spontaneity, movement, informality and a touch of quirkiness—all attributes we intend this Company to be known for,” said Scoot CEO Campbell Wilson in a statement.
Scoot was trademarked earlier this year by New Aviation, the working name of the airline. Mr Wilson is a 15-year veteran of SIA.
“The light, bright logo conveys warmth, energy and informality, while the tilted ‘t’ of the name Scoot hints that this airline is not cut from the same conformist mould of others,” Scoot said in a statement. “The aircraft livery, with its waves and colour, likewise gives a sense of motion, happiness, lightheartedness and youth, reflecting a casual, leisure-oriented vibe that should capture and enhance the mood of those travelling.”
Mr Campbell added: “These attributes will be personified in a unique spirit that encapsulates our values and style, and that should be apparent to guests whenever they interact with us. An airline with a different attitude. People with a different attitude. Scootitude.”
The branding was created by Singapore agency Sparkfury and sister agency Tangoshark.
Scoot says the public will be invited to make a tagline for the carrier.
Engineering retrofit and certification of Scoot’s first B777-200, a former Singapore Airlines aircraft, is scheduled for April-June-2012. Ticket sales will commence next year on initial routes to Asia and Australasia. Scoot is targeting routes over four hours and expects to eventually also serve points in Europe – including the UK – and the Middle East. Only Southeast Asia is ruled out as flights to points in that region are under four hours.
Scoot had been interested in wireless streaming in-flight entertainment, in-flight connectivity and pay-as-you-go power supply, as we reported in September. But Scott says no decision on those features have been made. “Specific seats, cabin features and offerings are currently being evaluated.”
Scoot will operate from Singapore Changi’s terminal two, as opposed to the low-cost carrier terminal, which would be stretched to accommodate B777s.
You can read our analysis from September here. CAPA will have a new analysis piece later this evening with the full details of the carrier’s launch.
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