Singapore’s Scoot launches 5th-freedom London route

Scoot (TR, Singapore Changi) has announced it will begin operating a fifth-freedom route between Bangkok Suvarnabhumi and London Gatwick, initially on a seasonal basis during the year-end peak but eventually as a scheduled service as of late March 2022.

The Singaporean low-cost carrier, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines Group, will operate between the Thai and British capitals 3x weekly between December 16 and December 30, 2021. The flights will subsequently pause for nearly three months and resume on March 22, 2022, as a scheduled 3x weekly route. The B787 operating the route will remain based out of Singapore Changi and will operate the Singapore-Bangkok (and return) legs before and after the London service.

Chief Executive Campbell Wilson underlined that the decision to launch the route was driven by the opening of Thailand to vaccinated tourists from most of the world, including the United Kingdom.

For Scoot, the route will be its first foray into the United Kingdom market, although not its first service to Europe. The LCC connects Singapore with Athens Int’l and Berlin Brandenburg Int’l (the latter both directly and via Athens). Mainline carrier Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi) operates 3x daily between Singapore and London Heathrow but does not serve Gatwick, the ch-aviation schedules module indicates. In turn, the Bangkok-London market is exclusively served by Thai Airways International (TG, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi), which flies to Heathrow 4x weekly directly and 3x weekly via Phuket.

Scoot’s long-haul fleet comprises ten B787-8s and ten B787-9s, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows.