More bargain flights for Perth
In a big win for inbound and outbound tourists, two of Asia's fastest growing low-cost airlines with fares up to 40 per cent lower than competitors plan to launch services to Perth in the next six months.
Airline sources said Singapore-based Scoot Airlines and Indonesia's Tigerair Mandala have applied for slots into Perth from October 1.
Scoot, the low-cost offshoot of Singapore Airlines, has requested five services a week with an early evening flight to Singapore.
Scoot was launched in May 2011 and its inaugural service was on June 4 last year from Singapore to Sydney.
It serves destinations across Asia and Australia using reconfigured Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-200s seating just over 400 passengers.
Scoot also offers a business class called ScootBiz with complimentary meals and iPads with movies, TV shows and games.
The airline operates into the Gold Coast and Sydney in Australia and has a network of nine destinations across Asia, including four Chinese cities.
It has five 777s in service and aggressive growth plans that include 20 Boeing 787s.
Indonesia's Tigerair Mandala is seeking up to three flights a day between Perth and Bali but is not expected to start flying the route until next year.
The airline was grounded through 2011 over debt issues but was recapitalised and Singapore's Tiger Airways has a 33 per cent ownership stake.
Tigerair Mandala is taking delivery of new 180-seat A320s and will have a fleet of 25 by 2015.
With the extra two low-cost airlines, Perth will be served by seven such carriers - Indonesia AirAsia, AirAsiaX, Tigerair Mandala, Tiger Airways, Tigerair, Jetstar and Scoot.
Neither Scoot nor Mandala responded to request for confirmation of the flights.
