Singapore budget carrier Scoot hopes for more liberal seat agreement

On Sunday, Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) low-cost arm, Scoot, started its service out of Chennai, adding a sixth and only metro destination to its Indian portfolio, having moved out of Hyderabad to let its parent airline take over that route. While the budget carrier is very keen to increase its services in India, particularly its tier-II cities, it finds itself severely cramped by limited seat agreement between the governments of India and Singapore.

In an exclusive interaction with DH, the airline’s general manager – India, Brian Torrey, bemoaned, “The air service agreement is limited. Other carriers are holding the rights, so we cannot go to some markets. We cannot even expand our Chennai service, where we’ve returned after a 3-year hiatus.”