Data points to Scoot raising China capacity for Northern Summer: aviation consultancy

SCOOT is intending to ramp up schedules for mainland China, with its seat capacity expected to peak in August for the Northern Summer 2024 season, noted Alton Aviation Consultancy managing director Mabel Kwan.

She drew this conclusion from analysing the budget airline’s capacity for the period, using data from aviation analytics firm Cirium as at Feb 28. The Northern Summer 2024 season runs from Mar 31 to Oct 26.

“Cities including Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shenyang, Tianjin and Xi’an will have at least one daily round trip,” she said.

Scoot’s capacity is expected to make up a quarter (24.5 per cent) of the market that offers direct flights from mainland China to Singapore during the Northern Summer season.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) , which owns Scoot, will have a 22.9 per cent share; the third-largest market share of 15 per cent goes to China Eastern Airlines.

Scoot chief executive Leslie Thng in recent interviews with The Business Times emphasised the importance of the mainland China market, and disclosed that the North Asian country was critical for the budget carrier’s move to ramp up capacity to above pre-pandemic levels.

In terms of seat capacity offered for the total Chinese international outbound market for the Northern Summer 2024 season, Scoot is ranked 17th and the full-service carrier SIA, 18th. Scoot commands a share of 1.5 per cent of that market and SIA, 1.4 per cent, added Kwan.

Chinese carriers aside, Scoot and SIA are ranked behind Korean Air Lines, Hong Kong Airlines, Air Macau and Asiana Airlines in terms of seat share.

As a destination, Singapore corners only 6.2 per cent of the mainland Chinese international outbound market. For the Northern Summer season, it ranks fifth.

Markets that rank ahead of Singapore, in descending order, are Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Thailand, which represent 46.1 per cent of total seat capacity offered.

China was the top source of tourists for Singapore and some countries in Asia, before the pandemic forced the North Asian country to close its borders for three years from 2020. Countries such as Thailand are now pulling out all the stops to woo Chinese travellers.