Singapore Airlines’ longhaul low cost carrier Scoot has taken off on its first flight, albeit delayed due to technical issues.
Using the callsign ‘Scooter 2’, flight TZ002 was scheduled to depart from Singapore’s Changi Airport at 11:25pm on June 4, but was delayed by 1.5 hours due to a technical issue and an ill passenger having to be unloaded. The flight later took off from Changi at 1:20am the following morning, arriving in Sydney just over an hour late at 10:20am local time on the morning of June 5. The return TZ001 service to Singapore then departed Sydney at 1:09pm.
On landing, the aircraft was also treated to a traditional ‘water arch salute’ by aviation fire fighters in two ultra-large Mk8 fire vehicles.
The carrier is launching with two 400-seat Boeing 777-200s previously used by Singapore Airlines and will add a further two 777s this year. It plans to grow to a fleet of 14 777s by the end of 2016.
Scoot is now flying daily to Sydney, and will commence five times weekly services to the Gold Coast on June 12. By the end of the year it will add flights to Bangkok in July and Tianjin in August. It is also planning to launch flights to Tokyo and Taipei by the end of the year.
