Introducing ‘Scoot,’ Singapore Airlines’ New Long-Haul Budget Carrier

Singapore Airlines' new long-haul budget carrier will be named Scoot with takeoff set for mid-2012, the new budget carrier said on Tuesday.

The new carrier, the brainchild of SIA chief executive Goh Choon Phong, will fly to cities in China and Australia. It will operate a fleet of second-hand Boeing 777-200 jets and charge up to 40 percent less than full-serviced airlines.

Some analysts had previously described the planned long-haul budget services as key to SIA's attempt to grow its business amid fierce competition from budget airlines such as Malaysia's AirAsia and Qantas Airways' JetStar.

We are not a substitution of SIA, our mission is to bring incremental traffic to the SIA group, Scoot Chief Executive Campbell Wilson, an SIA employee for more than 15 years, told a media briefing.

Scoot, wholly owned by SIA, the world's second largest airline by market value, will eventually acquire a total of 14 used Boeing 777-200 passenger jets from its parent and offer flights to Europe as well.