Tasmania Premier and Tourism Minister Will Hodgman today confirmed a new interline arrangement between Scoot and Virgin Australia, which will extend to all Virgin Australia flights into Hobart and Launceston.
Scoot, the low-cost, medium-haul arm of the Singapore Airlines Group, operates the world's first all 787 Dreamliner fleet to 18 destinations in eight countries/regions, including non-stop services from Singapore to Sydney, Gold Coast, Perth and Melbourne.
Through its partnership with Virgin Australia, Scoot will now be able to connect its Singapore-Melbourne service to Virgin Australia services operating between Melbourne, Hobart and Launceston.
The interline arrangement means that guests will now be able to book flights all the way from Singapore through to Tasmania via Melbourne on a single ticket. Tasmanians and visitors leaving the state can also book flights departing Hobart or Launceston to Singapore via Melbourne on a single ticket.
The new interline arrangement enhances connectivity between Tasmania and Singapore, complementing Scoot's existing Singapore-Sydney connection to Virgin Australia's services operating between Sydney, Hobart and Launceston.
The extension of Scoot's interline partnership with Virgin Australia acknowledges Tasmania's growing popularity amongst Asian visitors, and provides a great opportunity to attract more visitors from Singapore to the state for leisure, education and business.
This arrangement will be available in industry booking systems, providing greater exposure for Tasmania in the Singapore travel distribution network.
Scoot Chief Executive Officer, Campbell Wilson said, "Since Scoot commenced flights between Singapore and Melbourne last November, the response has been amazing. Our fantastic value airfares, plentiful choices and service with Scootitude have clearly proved a hit, so we're delighted to making them even more accessible to Tasmanians and overseas visitors though the extension of our partnership with Virgin Australia."
The Tasmanian Government has a goal of attracting 1.5 million visitors to its state every year by 2020; the Asia visitor market will play a key role in reaching this target.
The Tasmanian Government's Access 2020 Plan also shows that total air capacity will need to increase by 700,000 seats over the next five years or around 140,000 extra seats a year to achieve the 1.5 million visitor target.
The Tasmania interline connection between Virgin Australia and Scoot is very timely, and is a further sign of the confidence that international and major domestic airlines have in the future growth of Tasmania's visitor economy.
The new interline arrangement also provides an ideal opportunity for Tourism Tasmania to undertake more cooperative marketing with its air access partners for Tasmania.
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