Scoot interested in Korean market if bilateral opens up: CEO

Scoot CEO Campbell Wilson, speaking at CAPA's LCCs & New Age Airlines in North Asia Conference in Macau, stated (06-Sep-2012) the low-cost, long-haul carrier would be interested in launching service to South Korea if the Singapore-South Korea bilateral is expanded. "If we get rights we would certainly be interested," Mr Campbell said, pointing out Korea is a popular destination for Singapore residents and Singapore is popular destination for Koreans. Currently there is no room in the Singapore-South Korea bilateral for Scoot because its full service parent Singapore Airlines is now using nearly all the traffic rights available to Singapore carriers (a few weekly frequencies are available during certain times of the year but Scoot is not interested in launching a new market unless it has the ability to eventually grow to daily service). Mr Campbell hopes South Korea liberalises faster and recognises the economic value Scoot would bring to South Korea if it was able to serve the country. Both Busan and Seoul would be potential markets for Scoot.