Singapore Airlines' Scoot heads for Sydney

Singapore-based start-up Scoot will fly daily to Sydney from mid next year, making the Australian gateway port its very first destination.

Scoot, a long-haul LCC, will be the first ailrine to come to Sydney under a new partnership agreement between Destination NSW and Sydney Airport, which is designed to promote the city proactively.

Scoot's CEO, Campbell Wilson, was understandably enthusiastic at the official launch today:

"As the first true no-frills airline operating between Sydney and Asia we can't wait to bring a whole new way to travel, even better airfares to shake up the industry. Sydney here we come."

Apparently Scoot chose Sydney in the face of strong competition from Brisbane and Melbourne.

AirAsia X's ultimate boss Tony Fernandes might not be as enthusiastic given that he hadn't got around to making Sydney a part of his network.

But with this announcement Singapore Airlines has made clear at least one part of its Scoot strategy: This is a direct assault on the Qantas Group's Asian expansion plans. It's yet another gambit on the airline chessboard in our region.

Read it in conjunction with the announcement (same week) that the ACCC has approved the tie up between Singapore Airlines and Virgin Australia and one might begin to appreciate the significance of all this SIA manoeuvring.

And it is now something else that Alan Joyce and his team will have to deal with.