Through Budget Aviation Holdings - its subsidiary which manages its low-cost airline business - Singapore Airlines will streamline its offering under a single brand. Tigerair will merge these activities with Scoot, SIA's other low-cost subsidiary, keeping only the latter's name. While Tigerair focused on the pure low-cost segment of low-cost air transport - rather like Ryanair - Scoot is closer to the model of hybrid" carrier" . From 2017, Scoot will be the sole brand for the low-cost activities of Singapore's national carrier.
The integration and planned disappearance of Tigerair is scheduled for second half of 2017 and should be completed before the end of next year. This relatively long time for the merger is linked to the technical and regulatory formalities surrounding such an operation, such as the schedule coordination and the transfer of traffic rights. The two carriers have been working for several months on eliminating duplicate routes (such as Singapore-Bangkok), as well as on a common booking engine and transfer possibilities between Tigerair's short-haul network and Scoot's long-haul network. The aim is to offer a veritable parallel air hub to that of Singapore Airlines and its partners, but in the low-cost segment.
the next logical step is to pursue a common operating licence and brand identity
" Scoot and Tigerair have already made considerable progress in their integration since the creation of Budget Aviation Holdings as a joint holding company in May. "said Goh Choon Phong, Chief Executive Officer of Singapore Airlines and Budget Aviation Holdings. " The integration has already led to commercial and operational synergies between Scoot and Tigerair which offer growth opportunities for both airlines, one example being the Scoot plans to launch its first European servicein Athens next year. Following a review, we have determined that the next logical step is to pursue a common operating licence and brand identity to enable a more seamless travel experience for customers. "said the company's CEO.
Tigerair dessert 40 destinations in twelve countries with its fleet of 24 A320 family jets. Scoot has twelve Boeing 787-version 8 or 9 aircraft serving a network of 24 destinations in ten countries. The carrier has confirmed the launch of four weekly Athens-Singapore-Australia flights in 2017 and is studying possible services to Barcelona, Madrid, Manchester, Milan and Rome. Other European cities such as Berlin, Brussels and Geneva could also be involved in the future.
With the demise of Tigerair comes the question of the survival of these subsidiaries outside Singapore. We have learned that the Tigerair Australia brand, acquired by Virgin Australia, will continue, while Tigerair Taiwan, which has been losing money since its creation in 2014, has little chance of survival. Its main shareholder, China Airlines, is in fact seriously considering cutting costs in 2017... Tigerair Taiwan is to close its routes to Kota Kinabalu and Singapore next January, leaving only a few routes to Korea and Japan, as well as Bangkok.
