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Singapore Airlines subsidiary Scoot has announced it will resume flights connecting Singapore and Perth on 3 March, when the Western Australian hard border is set to finally fall.
It comes after WA Premier Mark McGowan announced last month that his state will drop quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated interstate and international travellers on 3 March, with anyone aged 16 and over also required to have had their booster shot before entering.
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Border restrictions were initially planned to be lifted on 5 February, however, McGowan backflipped on this decision, stating the date would be pushed back due to the Omicron outbreak in the eastern states.
From 3 March, Scoot will operate daily flights connecting Singapore and Perth under Singapore’s Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) scheme, using its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet.
Under the VTL scheme, fully vaccinated Australian passengers on designated VTL services are free to enter Singapore as tourists without entering hotel quarantine, however, will need to present negative COVID-19 test results both prior to departure and on arrival in Singapore.
Scoot said fares will be on sale, starting from $159, from now to 13 March, valid for travel up to 29 October.
It comes after Singapore Airlines revealed it will resume direct flights between Singapore and Darwin from 29 March, with tri-weekly services through to the end of May, increasing to five services per week in June.
The route was previously operated by its now-defunct regional arm SilkAir.
Meanwhile, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has again criticised Premier McGowan for delaying the reopening of his state’s domestic and international borders, claiming that the move cost Qantas over $60 million.
“Qantas certainly wasn’t the only business caught short when that opening was delayed,” Joyce said.
“We relied on that date, and we’ve lost more than $60 million as a result.
“Not to mention the thousands of customers who were disappointed,” he added.
“Hopefully we can count on this new date and rebuilt confidence in travelling to Western Australia.”
Earlier, Joyce told Sunrise, “I don’t know what the extra month has given us in Perth,” he said.
“We were planned, ready and organised to open up on February 5 and now we are struggling to meet March 3 because we have people on leave that we asked to take leave and it’s a very disorderly opening.”
“We will put the capacity on, but it could have been done a lot better than this and it’s disappointing.”
