Exclusive Q&A with Scoot CCO Vinod Kannan

Yesterday, Scoot held a small event for Australian media and trade to celebrate their recent growth and reaffirm their commitment to the region.

We took the opportunity to catch up with the company’s Chief Commercial Officer Vinod Kannan, who told us all about what Scoot has in store for Australia and how the airline found its niche.

See also: 6 secrets you never knew about Scoot

This year is shaping up to be a big one for Scoot.

The low-cost carrier is expanding flight frequency in three of the four Australian cities they operate in.

“At the end of March, we increased our frequencies to Gold Coast, from four times to five times a week,” he told us.

“In June we will increase frequency to Sydney and Melbourne as well, Sydney will go up to eight times from current seven times a week and Melbourne goes to daily which is seven times from the current five times a week.”

The budget airline is also making strides in other global markets, with last year’s merger with Tiger Airways in Singapore.

“As an integrated unit Scoot now has 40 aircraft and we are adding capacity to different parts of the world,” said Kannan.

“Most notably, Berlin which will start 20th June and will run four times a week, this is in addition to Athens which we began operating last year.”

“Overall we’ve got 63 destinations in our network.”

Beginning operations only five years ago, Kannan said the airline is still a relatively new kid on the block.

He said they’ve found their strength in their points of difference to other low-cost carriers.

“The Brand image we have is very Australian.”

“We are very quirky, we are informal and the way we communicate with our passengers is very casual, compared to what some of the other carriers do.”

“We typically say we are for the millennial market, we’re very laid-back and social, so of course young people and the young at heart.”

“Anyone who wants a good deal really is our target segment.”

And what’s next for Scoot?

“We are growing significantly,” he said.

“We’ve got 40 aircraft in our fleet now and we’ve got another 39 on order so effectively in the next five years we’re going to double our fleet size which is quite significant.”

But he promises the brand will keep its young at heart attitude.

“We’ll still have our Scootitude as we call it,” he told us.

“Our cabin crew on the flights are quite different, we’ve got parties on the flights, we’ve got acapella groups, we’ve had a wedding that took place on a flight.”

“Things that are quite different but at the same time maintaining our commitment to the consumer to bring great value.”

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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