Back in May, Singapore-based low-cost carrier, Scoot, made public plans to begin service to Hawaii. And yesterday it became official as Scoot announces Hawaii service start date.
Hawaii Service
Singapore Airline Group’s low-cost subsidiary, Scoot, will begin Singapore-Osaka-Honolulu service later this year. The route will have four frequencies per week and will feature the Airline’s Boeing 787-9s.
Service will commence on Tuesday, December 19, 2017, departing Singapore every Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday. The layover in Osaka will be approximately one to two hours long.
Celebratory Fare Special
To commemorate its launch of service, Scoot is offering fare specials through October 29. During the promotion, roundtrip tickets between Honolulu and Osaka can be had for as little as $280. Roundtrip tickets between Honolulu and Singapore during the promotion will start at $480. Regular roundtrip fares will be $344 and $590, respectively.
Those are good fares, but as you may recall, AirAsia X recently commenced it’s Kuala Lumpur-Osaka-Honolulu service with fares as low as $200 roundtrip between Honolulu and Osaka. And, in my opinion, the seats onboard AirAsia X’s aircraft look plusher than those aboard Scoot’s aircraft.
Let’s face it. Scoot’s seats look like a fabric wrapped version of the ultra-slim seats found on Hawaiian Air’s fleet of Boeing 717-200s. Don’t get me wrong; those seats are fine for a 30-60 minute flight… But an eight to nine-hour flight? No thanks. And forget being seated in those seats for 17 hours of total flight time.
Scoot Announces Hawaii Service Start Date Final Thoughts
It’s great to see a return of a Singapore-based airline to Hawaii. According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the last time Singapore Airlines served Hawaii was on July 31, 1992, on its Singapore-Taipei-Honolulu-Los Angeles route. However, I do find it interesting how AirAsia X manages to be more aggressive on pricing, while they fly less efficient aircraft with what appears to be more comfortable seats than that of Air Asia X. But even if Scoot were the cheapest option, I’m not sure I’d fly them even then, as I value comfort more than saving a few bucks.
It’ll also be interesting to see how the airlines all compete with one another. As mentioned last week, many airlines serve Hawaii from Japan. And with yet another entrant into the market, competition will only become more fierce, which of course, is great for consumers. Just know what’s most important to you; the cheapest seats available, or slightly higher prices with better seats.