Capacity to Asia – and onto connecting flights beyond – will be given an uplift leading into the busy summer holiday season, with several airlines confirming more seats between Australia and the region.
Singapore Airlines low-cost subsidiary, Scoot, has announced it will increase flights from Melbourne and Perth to Singapore in response to higher demand during Australia’s summer, subject to regulatory approvals.
From December 2024, Victorians will be given an extra weekly flight between Tullamarine and Changi (from 12 flights to 13 flights), while from January 2025, Western Australians will be offered a twice-daily service between Perth and Changi (up from 13 flights per week).
The Aussie growth is among many increases to the Scoot network across Asia.
“We are happy to announce more flights to popular destinations such as Australia, Japan, and South Korea in the Northern Winter season, to cater to higher demand, especially during the holidays and festive season,” Scoot Chief Commercial Officer Calvin Chan said.
“We will continue to seek new opportunities, remain nimble in our aircraft deployment to match demand, and provide our customers with greater convenience and enjoyable travel journeys with Scoot.”
Meanwhile, Batik Air has revealed that it will extend its non-stop Melbourne-Kuala Lumpur flights into next year.
According to the Malaysian airline, its direct A330 services, which are due to pause on 8 October 2024, will recommence on 6 December and run through until 30 March 2025.
Return fares on the route with the full-service carrier start from $536 for economy class and $4,021 for business class.
Batik Air Malaysia recently announced a rise in the number of seats it offers between Melbourne, Bali and Kuala Lumpur as well as Brisbane, Bali and Kuala Lumpur during the Australian 2024/2025 summer season.
In addition, Chinese carrier Sichuan Airlines will boost the number of flights it offers from Sydney and Melbourne to Chengdu.
Between the NSW and Sichuan capitals, the airline will operate five weekly flights instead of just one weekly service from 27 October until 30 November 2024 and again from 1 March to 29 March 2025. It will also upgauge its daily service between these periods from an A330 to an A350.
Between Melbourne and Chengdu, the carrier will also upgrade to five weekly flights from one service over the same periods.
Sichuan’s increase follows Juneyao Air’s recent announcement that it will commence its first Australian service on 17 December 2024 between Sydney and Shanghai. Vietjet and AirAsia are among the other Asian carriers to have recently increased Aussie flights.