Singapore Airlines’ low-cost subsidiary Scoot has announced plans to add the Brazilian-made Embraer E190-E2 to its fleet, signing a letter of intent with aircraft lessor Azorra for nine new planes. The first is scheduled for delivery in 2024, with the remaining eight to be introduced by the end of 2025.
“The new aircraft ensures that Scoot is ready for growth by enhancing our connectivity in the region and supports the further development of our Singapore hub.”
-Scoot CEO
Scoot will become the first Singapore carrier to operate the E190-E2, which will fly alongside the 60 Airbus A320s and Boeing 787s that make up the rest of the fleet.
What’s particularly exciting about this addition is it enables Scoot to serve thinner routes to non-metro destinations, including a possible return to type-restricted airports like Koh Samui.
What is the Embraer E190-E2?
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| ✈️ Factsheet: Embraer E190-E2 | |
| Engine Type | Pratt & Whitney GTF PW1900 |
| Number of Seats | 112 |
| Length (Nose to Tail) | 36.3m |
| Wingspan | 33.7m |
| Maximum Cruising Speed | 0.82 Mach |
| Range | 2,850 nm/ 5,278 km |
The Embraer E-Jet E2 programme was first launched at the Paris Air Show in 2013, with the E190-E2 variant entering service with Norwegian carrier Widerøes in April 2018.
It seats 112 passengers in a single-cabin configuration, and while Embraer provided some tasty-looking mockups of a two-cabin configured E2 jet, those will unfortunately be pipe dreams unless Singapore Airlines one day deigns to take these aircraft under its wing (those orange pillows look a natural match for SIA’s current colour scheme!).
A more realistic rendition of what we can expect on Scoot might be KLM Cityhopper’s E195-E2. Even though Scoot is bound to try and squeeze out every last inch of the fuselage, a 2-2 layout is all but assured (no middle seats!). This makes it a very couple-friendly plane, and well-suited to the holiday markets it will no doubt serve.
Overhead bin space is understandably snug, though standard-sized carry-ons will still fit.
Embraer says the E190-E2 has the lowest level of external noise in the single-aisle jet category, which should mean a quieter ride for passengers as well.
A return to Koh Samui?
The E190-E2 jet has a range of 2,850 nm, which theoretically would put destinations as far afield as Seoul within range. Of course, Scoot will not be deploying this aircraft on such a high traffic route, reserving it instead for thinner routes where the deployment of a larger Airbus A320 or Boeing 787 cannot be economically justified.
The name on everyone’s lips is Koh Samui. The SIA Group was forced to abandon Koh Samui ever since SilkAir retired its A319 aircraft during the pandemic- these were the largest aircraft allowed to operate to the island. Bangkok Airways is now the sole operator of flights to and from Koh Samui (it also owns the airport, incidentally), and a monopoly never bodes well for prices.
Restoring service to Koh Samui would also be a boon to holidaymakers from Australia and Europe, who could book a single itinerary on Singapore Airlines and Scoot with minimal hassle.
I suppose the unfortunate thing is that even if Scoot does start flying to Koh Samui, redeeming KrisFlyer miles won’t be a good option since Scoot redemptions are revenue-based (1,050 miles = S$10). This means you’ll still be at the mercy of cash prices, a far cry from pre-pandemic days when you could reliably redeem awards from 12,500 miles each way (or 8,750 miles during Spontaneous Escapes!).
Conclusion
Scoot will add Embraer E190-E2 aircraft to its fleet from 2024, adding a third aircraft type to its fleet of Airbus A320s and Boeing 787s.
While I doubt we’ll see much innovation in terms of PaxEx (it is Scoot, after all), it’ll at least open up additional flight options from Singapore, including a potential return to Koh Samui for the SIA Group.
Well, at least it’s not the CRJ.
Did scoot have any comment about expanding their premium economy coverage?
i have to believe the a220 name was thrown around a lot during the planning, too!
if by premium economy you mean scoot plus, well i doubt we’ll see it on the e190
CRJ is not in production anymore. But the C-series aka A220 is also not a bad choice.
I’d love to see SQ operating the A220, but I assume they have reasons for not getting it- the 737 Max probably fits better into their plans.
Don’t think scoot shares SQ’s aversion to older frames.
Yes, PE maps to plus on Google flights.
Good small cute plane… took it with cityhopper KLM in europe.
Time to challenge Firefly’s service to SZB from SIN. This route has such high demand and so underserved that prices are always off the charts.
It’s a great plane but you can read on the news that some airlines operating them are having major problems with the engines right now. Apparently it only comes with P/W engines. Hope this get this sorted out soon.
Just curious if you’ve done any work on the economics of smaller aircraft. I thought the whole point of A380 was economies of scale, cramming more passengers into a single aircraft. Although I suppose light aircraft may require proportionally less weight for propulsion and maintenance?
That is if you can always ensure the large aircrafts are fully booked, if the flight (for A380) is only 60% booked..then econmics of scale wont favor it..smaller planes are used for routes which are not so high traffic like big cities, and favor small island airports who may not have long runways to cater for big jets to land.
the vision of the A380 was a widebody that allowed airlines to create ultra luxury for premium passengers. Emirates did well with this, but for most airlines, this was never achieved nor could they fill the craft enough for it to become fuel efficient. Remember, premium customers pay for most of the flight in full-fledge airlines. The economy cabin is just a filler. The A380’s four engines consumed more than double the fuel of a 787, and its size restricted it from use in some airports. Airbus recognizes this lack of demand for the a380 and has already discontinued the… Read more »
A380 also doesn’t fit as much cargo in the hold than if the equivalent pax was carried on something like the 77W. Another factor to consider.
A380 is probably suited for slot constrained ports like LHR JFK etc where the volume off pax mitigates the problem of filling up the aircraft.
Airbus and Boeing gambled and went in different directions with their designs. The A380 was designed for hub and spoke operations or for capacity constrained airports like LHR, while the B787 was designed for point to point operations.
And we all know most people would rather fly direct than to have to connect and in the end the A380 just wasn’t living up to it’s advertisement, that and it’s cargo capacity was really low and it was hard to make up for the lack of pax with cargo for the routes that weren’t able to fill the plane.
This is such bad news especially with the 112 seats setting. Will be cramped and squeezed for passengers. Look up on widerøe e190-e2 video reviews to see just how tiny the seat pitch and legroom is going to be in the 112 config. Hopefully Scoot will reconsider the config at the very least.
Look up the height too. Narrow and short jet. Previous iterations were configured 1-2 and rollaboards had to be stowed overhead sideways. No fun.
Nice… Love these 4-abreast narrow-body planes. The only issue here is the carry-on hand baggage space which is quite tight, which if lot of passengers bringing beyond their (free budget carrier) allowance will be a headache for the cabin crew.
They really do need to enforce the size and weight limits though. The size of carry on baggage that some pax bring on board is really ridiculous and you can see that they are actively having issue with even lifting them up to the stowage bins.