PETALING JAYA: Singapore's new long-haul no-frills carrier Scoot has chosen Sydney as its first city to fly into in mid-2012, a city that rival AirAsia X (AAX) has failed to gain entry into despite fighting for the rights for more than two years.
Scoot has also laid a direct challenge to Qantas and its unit Jetstar on its home ground by adding 400 seats a day to the route and it would appear that Scoot is capitalising on Qantas' weakness to get market share on the route.
Qantas is still facing union issues and has yet to pick between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore as its Asian hub.
But Brendan Sobie, an analyst with the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, expects AirAsia X to launch the Kuala Lumpur-Sydney route before Scoot launches the Singapore-Sydney route.
“Scoot rival AAX is already preparing to launch the Sydney route in the first half of 2012,'' Sobie said in his research note.
His argument is based on the fact that AirAsia group boss Tan Sri Tony Fernandes is now on the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) board and that could have changed things for AAX.
The low-cost long-haul airline AAX now flies to three cities in Australia Perth, Gold Coast and Melbourne.
He said AAX had long wanted to serve Sydney but for years did not receive approval from the government as MAS lobbied against AAX that was forcing MAS to lower its fares.
AAX in June this year had all the restrictions which also limited its footprint in China lifted, but was told it still could not yet serve Sydney.
However, the August equity swap between AirAsia and MAS, which led to Fernandes gaining a seat on the MAS board, has alleviated the tension.
MAS and AAX have been having meetings on route planning and when asked on the outcome over route allocation and whether Sydney was on the cards, AAX chief executive officer Azran Osman-Rani said “It depends on the Government/Transport Ministry.''
He added: “We have done a lot to pioneer a new innovative business model that gives Malaysia a rare global industry leadership position. Are we going to let the Singaporeans overtake us because we are slow and unresponsive?''
Scoot is seen by many as a serious rival to AAX and it should shake up the low-cost travel market in this region.
It is also using bigger planes that can carry more passengers and has a parent, Singapore Airlines, that has deep pockets.
Sobie said the Singapore-Sydney route presently had no seats from low-cost carriers and this effectively gave Scoot for now a monopoly on the lower end of the market.
“In comparison, the competition is much more diverse in the Singapore-Melbourne market with SIA, Qantas, Jetstar and Emirates all operating,'' he said.
Scoot is Singapore Airlines long-haul low-cost carrier and to begin operations, it would use four B777-200 which it purchased from its parent. Scoot plans to have 14 planes by 2016, with long term plans to fly to India, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Qantas has yet to decide where to locate its Asian operations, either Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. Although recent reports suggest they are leaning towards KL, it is really hard to say what the final decision would be.
No comments:
Post a Comment