Scoot to fly thrice weekly to Sapporo

TOKYO — Scoot’s flights to Sapporo will operate thrice weekly, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The flights depart Singapore at 6.15am, and arrive in Sapporo at around 5pm, Japan time, with one stopover in Taipei.

Details of the route were released on Monday (Sept 26) at the launch of Scoot’s flight from Singapore to Sapporo, Hokkaido. The inaugural flight takes place this Saturday (Oct 1). Sapporo is Scoot’s third destination in Japan, after Osaka and Tokyo.

The launch was attended by Senior Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo, Japan External Trade Organization executive vice president Yuri Sato, Scoot and Tigerair chief executive officer Lee Lik Hsin and IE Singapore deputy CEO Chua Taik Him.

Asked about the challenges of turning a profit on the route amid growing competition on the Taiwan-Japan leg, Mr Lee said the competition is because demand is increasing. “So we are confident that this will eventually be a profitable route for us,” said Mr Lee, who also noted that both Scoot and Tigerair were profitable last year and in the first quarter of the year.

Apart from Sapporo, the airline is launching its first European route to Athens, as well as flights to Jaipur and Dalian. This brings the total number of routes it offers to 25.

Asked about his plans for Tigerair, which became integrated with Scoot under one holding company this year, Mr Lee said growth for the two airlines go hand in hand. “(This is) because of the ability to connect passengers across the two networks, which means that your market opportunities is multiplied, because you are not only targeting passengers from Singapore to a destination and from a destination to Singapore,” he said.