Scoot Double Inaugural Trip Report: Osaka Kansai & Kaohsiung
Scoot has really bean in the news lately, despite for the wrong reasons. However I think doing an inaugural flight should be safe enough, and when Scoot announces its plan for Kaohsiung and Osaka in April, I kept my eyes out. Scoot is in the midst of a transition to an all-787 fleet, and currently, 5 787-9s are already in the fleet with one more 787-9 and four more 787-8s delivery in the coming months. All these 787s cause Scoot a bit of transitional issues, but these Dreamliners will allow Scoot a new wave of expansion. The original plan announced in April was to start a thrice-weekly flight from Singapore to Sapporo Chitose airport (CTS) via Bangkok Don Mueang Airport (DMK), and then a thrice-weekly flight from Singapore to Osaka Kansai (KIX) via Kaohsiung (KHH). All the new flights will be operated by the new 787-9s. But when the schedule was finalized in late May, the plan to fly to Sapporo was cancelled and all six flights were destined for Osaka Kansai. It is interesting to note that it does not launch a nonstop flight, but rather these one-stop flights by taking advantage of these fifth freedom rights. I presume that this tactic is to avoid competing with its mother company Singapore Airlines directly, and these fifth freedom rights provide some additional traffic at these popular intermediate points and to expand beyond the small Singapore markets. Both Taiwanese and Thai tourists love Osaka, and Kaohsiung is a major airport located in the Southern part of Taiwan, which is experiencing a LCC expansion. Tigerair Taiwan and other major Taiwanese airlines have been expanding from Kaohsiung too with flights to Southeast Asia and Japan. Peach and Vanilla Air have both served Kaohsiung for a while now. Air Asia will begin a thrice-weekly flight to KLIA beginning July 16. Since I was going to be in Taiwan for two weeks travelling with two of my friends, I decided to take a short side trip to fly these inaugural flights. After working out a few scenarios, I settled in flying to DMK first, which has an affordable and convenient on-site airport hotel, and then flew the DMK to KIX on July 8. Then I stayed overnight at Osaka Kansai (and even made a detour to Oita in the morning) and flew the return inaugural from Osaka Kansai to Kaohsiung, and then took the high-speed rail HSR back to Taipei.
July 8, 2015
TZ 298 DMK-KIX Lv0825 Arr1550 Boeing 787-9 9V-OJE “Maju-Lah”/ Singapore’s 50th anniversary livery
Photo Album:
http://s1213.photobucket.com/user/Ca...ugural07082015
Check-in:
Similar to my NokScoot’s experience, check-in area at the Don Mueang Airport was crowded and no one was patrolling the area and guiding people to the right lane. Aisle 7 was busy this morning with both NokScoot’s own flight to Singapore, and Scoot’s inaugural flight to Osaka Kansai. Thankfully compared to NokScoot’s low profile and forgettable inaugural flight, Scoot’s inaugural flight to Osaka was definitely a more high profile one, and the flight was doing well load wise, as the area was really busy. There was a ScootBiz and paid priority check-in line. However, there was a party in front of me, who was taking much time, as they had to pay extra for their additional luggage. The security agent finally stepped in 15 minutes later and asked the other agent to check me in. The agent unfortunately spoke little English and was having trouble with my passport. She had to call for the supervisor. Ground service is definitely on the weak side, and with NokScoot’s ambitious plan, I don’t think their staffs are quite ready for an expansion and dealing with a variety of international tourists.
Four NokScoot F/As were hired to celebrate this inaugural flight, and there were multiple opportunities for photo time. They even asked people to post them in social media with a specific hashtag #ScoottoOsaka. At the check-in area, there was a huge cardboard celebrating the new flight, and it is nice to see some enthusiasm about the new flight.
A t-shirt was also given to all the inaugural flights’ passengers, which was nice – better than nothing! For a LCC, this is a fairly nice gesture.
Immigration and security were quiet this morning and thankfully I made it to the viewing area before the inbound flight arrived.
I spotted the first NokScoot’s Boeing 777 HS-XBA “Pride” – heading to Singapore this morning
Scoot has really bean in the news lately, despite for the wrong reasons. However I think doing an inaugural flight should be safe enough, and when Scoot announces its plan for Kaohsiung and Osaka in April, I kept my eyes out. Scoot is in the midst of a transition to an all-787 fleet, and currently, 5 787-9s are already in the fleet with one more 787-9 and four more 787-8s delivery in the coming months. All these 787s cause Scoot a bit of transitional issues, but these Dreamliners will allow Scoot a new wave of expansion. The original plan announced in April was to start a thrice-weekly flight from Singapore to Sapporo Chitose airport (CTS) via Bangkok Don Mueang Airport (DMK), and then a thrice-weekly flight from Singapore to Osaka Kansai (KIX) via Kaohsiung (KHH). All the new flights will be operated by the new 787-9s. But when the schedule was finalized in late May, the plan to fly to Sapporo was cancelled and all six flights were destined for Osaka Kansai. It is interesting to note that it does not launch a nonstop flight, but rather these one-stop flights by taking advantage of these fifth freedom rights. I presume that this tactic is to avoid competing with its mother company Singapore Airlines directly, and these fifth freedom rights provide some additional traffic at these popular intermediate points and to expand beyond the small Singapore markets. Both Taiwanese and Thai tourists love Osaka, and Kaohsiung is a major airport located in the Southern part of Taiwan, which is experiencing a LCC expansion. Tigerair Taiwan and other major Taiwanese airlines have been expanding from Kaohsiung too with flights to Southeast Asia and Japan. Peach and Vanilla Air have both served Kaohsiung for a while now. Air Asia will begin a thrice-weekly flight to KLIA beginning July 16. Since I was going to be in Taiwan for two weeks travelling with two of my friends, I decided to take a short side trip to fly these inaugural flights. After working out a few scenarios, I settled in flying to DMK first, which has an affordable and convenient on-site airport hotel, and then flew the DMK to KIX on July 8. Then I stayed overnight at Osaka Kansai (and even made a detour to Oita in the morning) and flew the return inaugural from Osaka Kansai to Kaohsiung, and then took the high-speed rail HSR back to Taipei.
July 8, 2015
TZ 298 DMK-KIX Lv0825 Arr1550 Boeing 787-9 9V-OJE “Maju-Lah”/ Singapore’s 50th anniversary livery
Photo Album:
http://s1213.photobucket.com/user/Ca...ugural07082015
Check-in:
Similar to my NokScoot’s experience, check-in area at the Don Mueang Airport was crowded and no one was patrolling the area and guiding people to the right lane. Aisle 7 was busy this morning with both NokScoot’s own flight to Singapore, and Scoot’s inaugural flight to Osaka Kansai. Thankfully compared to NokScoot’s low profile and forgettable inaugural flight, Scoot’s inaugural flight to Osaka was definitely a more high profile one, and the flight was doing well load wise, as the area was really busy. There was a ScootBiz and paid priority check-in line. However, there was a party in front of me, who was taking much time, as they had to pay extra for their additional luggage. The security agent finally stepped in 15 minutes later and asked the other agent to check me in. The agent unfortunately spoke little English and was having trouble with my passport. She had to call for the supervisor. Ground service is definitely on the weak side, and with NokScoot’s ambitious plan, I don’t think their staffs are quite ready for an expansion and dealing with a variety of international tourists.
Four NokScoot F/As were hired to celebrate this inaugural flight, and there were multiple opportunities for photo time. They even asked people to post them in social media with a specific hashtag #ScoottoOsaka. At the check-in area, there was a huge cardboard celebrating the new flight, and it is nice to see some enthusiasm about the new flight.
A t-shirt was also given to all the inaugural flights’ passengers, which was nice – better than nothing! For a LCC, this is a fairly nice gesture.
Immigration and security were quiet this morning and thankfully I made it to the viewing area before the inbound flight arrived.
I spotted the first NokScoot’s Boeing 777 HS-XBA “Pride” – heading to Singapore this morning
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