A huge blow to the Gold Coast’s tourism sector as it rebounds from COVID with an international airline cutting flights to the city.
Scoot Airline is ending its direct flights between the Gold Coast and Singapore from July.
It comes just one year after the budget airline made its return to the city post-pandemic.
The route currently runs four times a week, serving thousands of customers.
Prior to the pandemic, Scoot served close to 130,000 travellers between Singapore and Gold Coast in 2019 alone.
Mayor Tom Tate says he wasn’t privy to the decision made by Scoot.
“I am surprised because I was a party to putting that deal together,” Mayor Tate says.
“If there was something I could’ve done I would’ve done it.”
A spokesperson for the Gold Coast Airport has admitted to myGC it’s disappointing but they are focussing on new connections.
“Scoot has been a valued partner of the Gold Coast for more than a decade, delivering over one million travellers between Singapore and our wonderful region,”
“We share the disappointment of our tourism partners and passengers who have benefitted from Scoot’s Singapore-Gold Coast flights, however, travellers will soon be able to enjoy other Southeast Asian connections.
“We will be welcoming Virgin Australia’s Gold Coast-Bali route to our newly expanded terminal from 29 March, and AirAsia X’s popular Gold Coast-Kuala Lumpur route will resume on 1 April.”
Scoot Airline has told myGC they apologise for the inconvenience caused.
“Scoot will be suspending flight services between Singapore and the Gold Coast after 17 July 2023 (last flight out of the Gold Coast), as we adjust capacity and optimise resources in response to demand,” a spokesperson says.
“Australia remains an important market to Scoot and we are committed to connecting travellers between Australia and other parts of the world.”
Scoot will continue to operate 10-times weekly flights between Singapore and Melbourne, 12-times weekly flights between Singapore and Perth, and 10-times weekly flights between Singapore and Sydney.
Scoot’s customer service team is reaching out to all affected customers with existing bookings made directly with Scoot, to offer them refunds.
For bookings made through travel agents or partner airlines, customers are advised to contact their travel agent or purchasing airline for assistance.
