Scoot to suspend flights to Australia's Gold Coast from July 2023

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group will suspend its budget arm Scoot's services to Australia's Gold Coast region from July 2023, as it "adjusts its capacity in response to demand".

In its third-quarter earnings report released Tuesday (Feb 21), the national carrier said its net profit improved 12.7 per cent from the previous quarter, coming in at S$628 million - a surge that came on the back of continued strong recovery in air travel demand.

Scoot's last flight out of the Gold Coast will be on Jul 17, a company spokesperson told CNA.

"Australia remains an important market to us and we are committed to connecting travellers between Australia and other parts of the world."

The airline will continue to operate 10 weekly flights from Singapore to Melbourne, and Singapore to Sydney.

Flights to Perth will be increased to 12 times a week from Mar 26 "to continue supporting connectivity between Australia and the rest of our network".

SIA’s services to Vancouver will also be suspended from October this year, the airline said.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Scoot resumed services to Gold Coast in February 2022. It is currently the only airline in Singapore that flies directly to the Gold Coast.

Former Scoot CEO Campbell Wilson said in January 2022 that the airline served almost 130,000 travellers between Singapore and Gold Coast in 2019.

According to Gold Coast news outlet myGC, the route currently runs four times a week, serving thousands of customers.

myGC also reported city mayor Tom Tate's surprise at Scoot's decision.

"I am surprised because I was a party to putting that deal together ... If there was something I could’ve done I would’ve done it," he said.