Singapore’s LCC considers flights to Russia

The subsidiary of Singapore Airlines is not interested in flights to Moscow (Photo by Benny Zheng / Wikipedia)

Singapore Airlines’ long-haul low-cost subsidiary Scoot may launch flights to Russia, Subhash Menon, SIA’s Regional Vice President Europe, announced at a press event in Moscow. “We are exploring the possibility,” he said in response to a question posed by Russian Aviation Insider. “We certainly do not consider Moscow, but Russia is a big country. Flights to Vladivostok or seasonal flights to Saint-Petersburg is what we might be looking into,” he added.

Menon clarified, though, that the parent company is not planning to launch new routes to Russia. The airline is interested in year-round regular flights while even Russia’s second largest city, Saint-Petersburg, can provide reasonable traffic within the summer period only. Instead, Singapore Airlines has been developing commercial relations with Russian carriers.

“We used to cooperate with [now defunct] Transaero”, said Menon. “For now we are actively developing code-sharing cooperation with S7 Airlines”. Besides, the airline interacts with Aeroflot. “We operate in various Moscow airports but considering our wide-spread route network, it is quite possible to arrange convenient connection in other cities of the world,” said General Manager Russia of Singapore Airlines Edmond Lim.

Starting from the winter timetable, Singapore Airlines ceases 5X service on Singapore – Moscow – Houston route. Instead, the airline will serve Moscow from Singapore four times per week. Menon explained the reasons for that were mostly political – upon introduction of US sanctions in 2014, direct passenger traffic between Moscow and Houston, TX has dropped drastically. The Russian ruble’s depreciation also contributed a great deal making foreign trips for Russian citizens hardly affordable. “However, Singapore Airlines retains commercial rights for flights from Moscow to Houston and a bunch of other US cities, so should the political and economic climate change in future, the flights may be well resumed.” Menon added.