SilkAir boosts number of flights to Yangon

SilkAir will be taking over Scoot's flight services to Yangon starting October 29.

singapore airlines load factor
Picture for representation (Louis Nastro/Reuters)

Singapore Airline (SIA)'s regional wing SilkAir will be taking over Scoot's five weekly services to Yangon, Myanmar starting October 29.

This will further boost the airline's current number of flights to the said city from 10 non-stop flights a week to 15.

Scoot CEO Lee Hok Hsin said the transfer of the Yangon flights from the budget carrier to SilkAir is targeted towards aircraft utilisation.

"The transfer of Scoot's Yangon services to SilkAir will optimise aircraft utilisation within the Singapore Airlines Group and free up Scoot's resources for other network development plans," he said.

With the transfer, Scoot will no longer operate flights to Myanmar. Its network will be reduced to 60 destinations across 16 countries.

For passengers with existing bookings on Scoot's Yangon services, SilkAir said they will be re-accommodated on the new host airline. They will have two options: they can receive the details of their new bookings or they can opt to request a full refund of their tickets.

Earlier, the budget carrier announced that it will be commencing scheduled services to Kuching on October 29, Honolulu on December 19, and Kuantan on February 2, 2018.

Scoot will also be starting to fly to Harbin from December 1. There will also be seasonal non-stop Singapore to Sapporo flights from November 3.

Meanwhile, SilkAir chief executive Foo Chai Woo commented, "We look forward to providing our customers additional flight frequencies to Yangon, complete with our full-service experience, including complimentary baggage allowance, in-flight meals and in-flight entertainment via our SilkAir Studio."

In July 2017, SilkAir transferred its services to Kuching Malaysia to Scoot. The reason behind the transfer was also to optimise aircraft utilisation within the SIA Group and to meet travel demand for the said routes.

SilkAir also announced at that time that it will be launching scheduled services to its first Japanese destination, Hiroshima at the end of October 2017. It will also increase flight frequencies for destinations including Cairns, Kathmandu, and Penang.

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