Scoot launching flights to Subang Airport (Kuala Lumpur) from September 2024

While the flight between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur is often no more than 40 minutes, passengers often find that they spend more time getting into Kuala Lumpur proper from the airport, because of KLIA’s unfortunate location. You’re typically looking at a drive of at least 60 minutes, possibly more if traffic is bad. 

Subang’s Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (SZB) is much more proximate at a 20-30 minutes drive if the traffic gods smile on you, but the only connection from Singapore comes via Firefly, the low cost subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines. And even then, you’ll need to fly from Seletar Airport (XSP) instead of Changi.

But that’s now set to change, as Scoot has just announced that it will launch daily services to Subang from 1 September 2024. 

Scoot, the low-cost subsidiary of Singapore Airlines (SIA), today announced the launch of its new flight route to Subang, Malaysia, effective 1 September 2024. Operated by the Airbus A320 aircraft, the 7x weekly flights aim to provide customers with an alternative option to conveniently travel between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

-Scoot

Scoot to launch flights to Subang

From 1 September 2024, Scoot will operate the following flights between Singapore Changi Airport and Subang Airport.

Flights have already been loaded for sale on the Scoot website, with one-way fares available  from S$83 in the SIN-SZB direction.

Fares are even lower in the SZB-SIN direction (remember, Malaysia has lower airport taxes than Singapore), going for as little as S$34. 

Subang will become Scoot’s 70th destination, joining other Malaysia cities like Ipoh, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Kuantan, Kuching, Langkawi, Miri, Penang and Sibu. By September 2024, Scoot will operate 110 weekly flights to Malaysia. 

Subang vs KLIA

Once upon a time, Subang was Kuala Lumpur’s main airport, and indeed bore the name Kuala Lumpur International Airport until 1998 when KLIA opened in Sepang. Plans to convert the airport into a base for LCCs were opposed by local residents, and in the end the airport was repurposed to serve general aviation as well as turboprop flights. 

The latest plans call for it to become a “premium city airport”, as well as a hub for MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) and R&D, with a maximum capacity of 8 million passengers annually. For comparison, KLIA handed 47 million passengers in 2023. 

Subang currently has service by Berjaya Air, Firefly and SKS Airways, though it’s set to get busier towards the second half of the year as TransNusa adds flights to Jakarta from 1 August 2024, and AirAsia adds flights to Kota Kinabalu and Kuching from 30 August 2024.

As mentioned earlier, Subang is much closer to downtown Kuala Lumpur, with a car ride estimated to take about 30-40 minutes during the mid-day slot at which Scoot’s flight lands. A similar journey from KLIA would take about double that, though it does have the advantage of the KLIA Ekspres. 

In case you were wondering, Subang does have a Priority Pass lounge in the form of the Sky Lounge, which opens from 6 a.m to 10 p.m daily. A review can be found here.

Can you redeem miles?

If there’s a slightly unfortunate aspect to all this, it’s that we won’t have a good value redemption option to Subang via KrisFlyer. 

1,050 miles	S$10

That’s because KrisFlyer redemptions on Scoot are revenue-based, at a fixed rate of 1,050 miles=S$10.

This is relatively poor value, at least compared to an award flight redemption. That said, based on Scoot’s launch price of S$117.74 for a round-trip ticket, you’d need to redeem “only” ~12,363 KrisFlyer miles, versus 17,000 KrisFlyer miles for an award flight on Singapore Airlines. 

I think the real headline here is that you shouldn’t be redeeming miles on the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur route in the first place. With so many options and very competitive fares, you’re better off paying cash.

Conclusion

From 1 September 2024, Scoot will launch daily services between Singapore Changi Airport and Subang, Kuala Lumpur’s secondary airport. Fares have already been loaded and can be booked all the way till July 2025.

Given the closer proximity of Subang to downtown KL, this is a welcome option indeed.

Do you prefer flying to Subang or KLIA?