TIGER Airways and Scoot yesterday sealed a Memorandum of Understanding that will see the two low-cost carriers offer joint itineraries, with the initial phase beginning today.
Under the initial phase, customers may purchase a single itinerary for travel from Sydney or Gold Coast in Australia, served by Scoot; to Phuket, Ho Chi Minh City or Kuala Lumpur in South-east Asia, served by Tiger, via a transit in Singapore.
Passengers travelling from Australia to South-east Asia will be issued a single ticket containing all flight details and are entitled to 15kg check-in baggage allowance. On arrival in Singapore, they will be required to pass through immigration and collect their bags before checking into the second leg of the flight.
The two airlines are looking to implement a direct connection process to remedy this, which will allow passengers to transit to their next flight without passing through immigration or collecting baggage.
“Both carriers operate highly complementary networks, with Scoot focusing on medium-long haul routes of five or more hours, and Tiger focusing on shorter-haul journeys,” said Scoot CEO, Campbell Wilson.
“With Tiger’s move to our new den at Changi Airport Terminal 2, it’s the perfect time to leverage the strength of our networks to our customers’ benefit. The joint itineraries and new services we will be rolling out will greatly expand the travel options for both Tiger and Scoot customers,” said Tiger Airways Group CEO, Koay Peng Yen.
Brendan Sorbie, chief representative South-east Asia, Centre of Asia-Pacific Aviation, told TTG Asia e-Daily: “Tiger needed to revaluate its business model and its approach to partnerships. To grow and perhaps even to survive it needs to embrace a new model, which includes working with other carriers.”
“Scoot, as a long-haul carrier, needs feed if it is to become a viable entity of decent size, and Tiger is the most logical partner,” he added.
Joint itineraries originating from Australia are available for sale from today, for travel from October 15. Air tickets for travel departing South-east Asia will be available for sale and travel from November 2.
