Service will operate via Athens, allowing Scoot to tap on intra-Europe demand as EU opens up
Scoot’s new fifth freedom service between Athens and Berlin will see it tap into the intra-Europe travel market from August 2021.
The service is an extension of Scoot’s current thrice weekly Singapore-Athens service, with the tag-on of the Athens-Berlin leg. The service remains three times weekly, but there are changes to the flight numbers and timings.
The last Singapore-Berlin service was on 20 March 2020, right before the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. That flight departed Berlin Tegel International Airport (IATA: TXL), which has since been replaced by Brandenburg Airport (IATA: BER) which opened just months ago in June 2021.
Full schedule
For those who are interested, this is the schedule of the Singapore-Athens-Berlin service with effect from 10 Aug 2021:
| Service | Flight No. | Days of Operations | Depart | Arrive | Flight Time | Aircraft |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore – Athens | TR722 | Tue, Thu, Sat | 0110 | 0750 | 11h 40m | B787-8 |
| Athens – Berlin | TR722 | Tue, Thu, Sat | 0950 | 1150 | 3h | B787-8 |
| Berlin – Athens | TR723 | Tue, Thu, Sat | 1250 | 1650 | 3h | B787-8 |
| Athens – Singapore | TR723 | Tue, Thu, Sat | 1830 | 1030(+1) | 11h | B787-8 |
At the time of writing, a one-way ticket from Singapore to Berlin in economy starts from S$278, with check-in bags starting from S$75 and pre-ordered hot meals from S$17 each. There is actually no savings from buying the bundles – you just add on the prices of the bag and food that you need.
Given the current Covid-19 related measures, all meals will have to be pre-purchased and will not be available for purchase on board.
For the Singapore-Athens-Berlin service, if you decide to buy the FlyBagEat combo or the ScootPlus seat, you will get one meal service for each sector (i.e. one for Singapore-Athens and one for Athens-Berlin).
Scoot’s network: 25 destinations in August
With the reinstatement of Berlin, Scoot is now operating to 25 cities, as follow:
| Country/Territory | Destination |
|---|---|
| Southeast Asia | |
| Indonesia | Manado Surabaya |
| Malaysia | Ipoh Kuala Lumpur Kuching Penang |
| The Philippines | Cebu Clark |
| Thailand | Bangkok |
| Vietnam | Ho Chi Minh City* |
| North Asia | |
| China | Guangzhou Nanjing Tianjin Wuhan Zhengzhou |
| Hong Kong SAR | Hong Kong |
| Macau SAR | Macau |
| Japan | Tokyo-Narita (only to and from Taipei) |
| South Korea | Seoul (only to and from Taipei) |
| Taiwan | Taipei |
| Pacific | |
| Australia | Melbourne Perth Sydney |
| Europe | |
| Germany | Berlin |
| Greece | Athens |
The full Scoot passenger flight schedule for July and August 2021 is available on Scoot’s website.
Singapore to relax border controls… soon?
Earlier this month, Singapore’s Health Minister Ong Ye Kung has said that most European Union countries and USA are in the consideration for quarantine-free travel for travellers coming or returning to Singapore by the end of the year, once vaccination rates in Singapore reaches an acceptable level.
What this means is that countries with low case totals and similarly high vaccination rates, such as Germany and Italy, might be the first countries to be on a ‘white list’ for Singapore residents to visit without having to quarantine upon return.
If indeed Germany becomes one of the white listed country come end of year, it’s almost certain that Scoot will drop the tag-on flight and operate directly between Singapore and Berlin.
Final thoughts
The Singapore Airlines group is clearly trying its best to leverage fifth freedom rights in different parts of the world, as the Covid-19 vaccination race across the world today sees evolving border control measures. For instance, most EU nations now provide a concession for vaccinated travellers from fellow EU states, effectively opening up travel within the EU.
At the time of writing, Singapore Airlines has already extend its Copenhagen service to Rome, with fifth freedom traffic rights for passengers flying between Denmark and Italy.
Unfortunately for Singapore, Southeast Asia nations are far lagging in terms of vaccination rates, with many lagging far behind the much desired 70-80% levels to achieve some kind of herd immunity, so many countries are still keep borders shut with onerous testing and quarantine measures in place.
So what will it SIA’s next interesting fifth freedom service to pop up? This is definitely not going to be the last one.
Shanescape 