Post by chillout on Dec 2, 2011 9:45:34 GMT 7
www.dailytelegraph.com.au/business/breaking-news/budget-airline-to-fly-sydney-singapore/story-e6freuyr-1226211349147
Budget airline to fly Sydney-Singapore
From: AAP December 01, 2011 2:14PM
QANTAS and Jetstar are set to face more competition next year, with the Asian budget carrier Scoot announcing its plan to take off in Sydney.
From mid-next year the long-haul budget airline, owned by Singapore Airlines, will operate a 402-seat daily flight between Sydney and Singapore.
The "no frills" carrier will offer fares about 40 per cent lower than the traditional legacy carrier and will target the young, the adventurous, and those that wish to save some pennies, CEO Campbell Wilson said.
Scoot's first destinations will include Australasia and China, with other destinations to be announced in the future.
Speaking at a press conference in Sydney today, Mr Wilson rejected suggestions that Australia's airline market could not sustain another carrier.
"There's absolutely a market here," Mr Wilson said.
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"We have seen in all of the markets that no frills carriers have entered whether it be short haul or long haul, that they've grown the market."
"Sydney has a huge untapped potential for inbound and outbound no frills travellers and we will deliver that."
He welcomed competition from other Australian carriers such as Jetstar, saying "We're not afraid of anyone".
NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell said the move would open Australia's biggest city up to the booming Asian tourism industry, with $146 million a year expected to be injected into the state's economy.
"This is a significant step towards our goal of doubling overnight tourism expenditure by 2020," Mr O'Farrell said at the launch.
According to the tourism body Destination NSW, 92,000 people from Singapore visited NSW last financial year, up more than 16 per cent from the year before.
Scoot said it expected to receive its Air Operator's Certificate from the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore in the first quarter of next year, and has its eyes set on eventually travelling to India, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
