SINGAPORE | Earlier this year, Scoot announced an order for 9 Embraer E190-E2 aircraft. Seating a mere 112 passengers in a 2-2 configuration, the aircraft would be one of the smallest to fly in Singapore. This has resulted in lots of speculation that the new aircraft type would operate from Singapore's secondary commercial airport in Seletar instead of the megahub Changi Airport. Lets take a look at some of the reasons why Scoot is rumoured to do so:

Seletar Airport is equipped for the E190

Opening in 2019, Seletar Airport's Commercial Terminal (T2) is designed to cater to small regional airliners, with a capacity of 700,000 passengers per year. However, since its opening, only one commercial airline has ever operated from there- which is Firefly. The airline operates multiple daily flights from Seletar to Kuala Lumpur-Subang using ATR 72 aircraft. The terminal is capable of handling short-haul aircraft- including the brand-new E190s Scoot has ordered.

Limited space in Changi Airport

As Changi Airport is a major air hub, there is lots of traffic heading to the airport every day. As a result, catering to small, regional jets, such as Scoot's E190s, are not efficient as they take up precious and expensive gate space at the airport- which could be used for larger aircraft. Moving to Seletar Airport also has a wide variety of benefits, such as shorter security wait times and reduced congestion.

E190s rejected from operating to Changi Airport

It may also seem that Changi Airport does not want any E190s to operate to the airport. Earlier in the year, Qantas applied to launch a route from Darwin to Singapore using the E190, and it got rejected by the airport. The reasons are unknown, but it was possibly to save gate space. This could mean they might reject Scoot's proposals too.

When we reached out to Scoot for a reply, they could not give us a definite answer. However, according to sources, there has also been chatter among Scoot staff that this could happen. What are your thoughts? Comment below!

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Written by: Sohail Sawlani
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