Scoot ready to fly to Sapporo

22 Apr 2015  2041 | Business & Trade Fairs

BANGKOK  Singapore Airlines’ Scoot is poised to fly the Bangkok-Sapporo route possibly at the expense of Thai AirAsia X, which was forced to withdraw, according to an assessment made by Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation.
The centre said Scoot plans to serve Sapporo via Bangkok Don Mueang, while the Thailand-based Thai AirAsia X had to suspend plans to add new flights to Japan.
Scoot already serves the Singapore-Bangkok market with one daily turnaround flight and has begun selling three additional weekly Singapore-Bangkok flights from 8 July.
Scoot has not started selling the Bangkok-Sapporo sector as it is still waiting for final approval from Japanese authorities to use fifth freedom rights that would give it the right to sell the service to Japan in the Thailand market.
inside no 2“The Bangkok-Sapporo market is particularly appealing to Scoot given the new restrictions placed by Japanese authorities on Thai carriers,” CAPA explained.
Japanese authorities at the end of March placed restrictions preventing all Thai carriers from mounting new flights to Japan due to an ICAO finding against the Thailand’s DCA.
It leaves a window open for other ASEAN-based airlines to step in and offer flights from Thailand to Japan using fifth freedom rights.
NokScoot and its long-haul low-cost rival, Thai AirAsia X, are unable to pursue expansion in the Japanese market until the Thai DCA passes a new ICAO audit, a process which could take several months.
Thai AirAsia X’s existing services to Osaka and Tokyo Narita were not impacted, but it was forced to suspend a new daily Bangkok-Sapporo service, that was due to start 1 May. It is now targeting a late June launch.
The airline has refunded all pre-launch purchased tickets and CAPA claims this could give Scoot an opening to step in.
The Bangkok-Sapporo market is currently served by Thai Airways International, which offers a daily flight using a Boeing 787-8.
The centre added Scoot has been looking at launching several potential fifth freedom routes from Bangkok to Japan, including Tokyo and Osaka.
Scoot also has already taken over charter flights from Bangkok to Tokyo, which were originally committed to NokScoot. These flights are being operated with a 777-200, which were supposed to make up the NokScoot fleet.
“Thailand-Japan is a strategically important route for NokScoot and the Scoot group. Scoot hopes to close the gap with its rival AirAsia X Group, which already operates three daily flights to Japan,” CAPA wrote.

sourced:ttrweekly.com

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