SIA reshuffles routes as SilkAir merger looms

Scoot will pilot 17 of SilkAir’s routes over the next two years.

Budget airline Scoot will be taking over a number of SilkAir’s routes over the next two years ahead of the latter’s merger with Singapore Airlines (SIA), an announcement revealed.

The changes will take place between April 2019 and the second half of 2020.

Scoot will be taking over the following routes from SilkAir: Luang Prabang and Vientiane, Laos in April 2019; Coimbatore, Trivandrum and Visakhapatnam in India between May 2019 and October 2019; Changsha, Fuzhou, Kunming and Wuhan in China between May 2019 and June 2019; Chiang Mai, Thailand in October 2019; Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia in December 2019; as well as Balikpapan, Lombok, Makassar, Manado, Semarang and Yogyakarta in Indonesia between May 2020 and July 2020.

Scoot will also be transferring its Bengaluru and Chennai in India, Shenzhen in China and Kochi in India services to SIA and SilkAir.

“We are now at the half-way mark in our three-year transformation programme,” SIA CEO Goh Choon Phong said. “The route review will strengthen the SIA Group for the long term with the right vehicles in our portfolio of airlines deployed to the right markets.”

In addition, Scoot’s fleet will be expanded with the transfer of 14 Boeing 737-800s from SilkAir, whilst SilkAir will continue growing its operations as it receives a new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft.