Scoot’s first Boeing 787 will fly to Perth, with the airline confirming the WA capital as the Dreamliner’s inaugural destination.
Scoot CEO Campbell Wilson says that first flight will take place in “early 2015”, but did not flag the specific date – although it’s tipped to be February 1st.
Hong Kong is also expected to get a Boeing 787 on the same date in a unique “double Dreamliner” launch.
Singapore Airlines’ low-cost offshoot has 20 Boeing 787s on order, split into ten of the original Boeing 787-8 and ten of the larger, longer-range 787-9.
The airline will receive only Boeing 787-9s until the middle of 2015, at which point the first of 10 smaller 787-8s will arrive.
Scoot CEO Campbell Wilson believes the 787s will gives Scoot the flexibility to launch new routes, or add more flights to existing routes, where economics might not favour its current fleet of larger and less fuel-efficient Boeing 777.
The split between the 787-8 and 787-9 models will also allow more flexibility in juggling passenger numbers on each route.
“They’re operationally interchangeable so there’s no efficiency impact, but the different capacities open more options with respect to network and deployment” Wilson said.
Scoot moves to all-Dreamliner fleet
The airline expects to rapidly expand its Dreamliner fleet in 2015, with delivery of as many as one per month from February to June 2015.
Scoot aims to retire all six of its Boeing 777-200s, which were handed down from Singapore Airlines, around the middle of 2015 and shift to an all-Boeing 787 fleet to quickly parlay the Dreamliner’s increased fuel efficiency into a healthier bottom line.
“The economic advantages of this later generation aircraft – including a fuel-burn saving of around 20% per seat – ensure that costs and thus airfares can be kept low so that more people can travel more often” Wilson promised.
Scoot’s Boeing 787-9 will be kitted out with 35 ‘all-leather’ premium seats in ScootBiz class, arranged in a 2-3-2 layout.
Each features include an extendable leg-rest and a ‘cradle’ recline position.
There’ll also be AC power sockets for every traveller.
The bulk of the bird will of course be given over to a sea of 340 economy seats in a 3-3-3 configuration, for a total head count – or should that be bum count – of 375.
The standard economy seat is a slimline slab sans headrest.
However, the seats in the extra-legroom Stretch rows and child-free ‘Scoot in Silence’ cabin will sport adjustable headrests.
Pleasingly, all seats from tip to tail will enjoy access to AC power and “streaming Internet connectivity.”
Source : Australian Business Traveller
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