Scoot starts Honolulu flights to rival AirAsia

Singapore based budget airline Scoot has started flights to Honolulu, USA. Scoot is second Asian low cost carrier to fly to Honolulu after Air Asia. Just like Air Asia, Scoot also has opted to operate a one stop flight via Osaka, Japan. Both airlines take about 24 hours of flight duration with best possible connection, more if transit time is longer.

In terms of pricing, Scoot is a bit expensive than Air Asia. The best return fare to Honolulu from Trichy that I have seen is about USD 1100+ or INR 72000. (without any add on like bags, meals etc) Under normal conditions, without any sale, if booked several months in advance and if you're flexible with dates, Air Asia can take you to Honolulu and back for about 45-50K INR. Baggage and meals another 10-15k extra. Total around 60k. This is not super cheap but decent enough if your main destination in Honolulu itself. (Next best option- reaching US mainland and then flying to Honolulu will cost you about INR 1 lakh at best rates, but if you're going all the way to Honolulu in all probability you'd like to visit US mainland also.

I am wondering why Scoot opted to copy exact model of Air Asia- they could have tried flying direct (without stopping at Kansai, Dreamliner has slightly better range than A330) or chose a different transit point (say Haneda or Busan etc)

Note that above fares are lowest. If you're particular about the date or if you're unlucky, ticket will cost twice as much for some of the dates.

Scoot is also aiming flight to Berlin in late 2018. (2^nd European destination after Athens)

Below is a comparison between Scoot vs Air Asia for India-Honolulu flights

#	Factor	AirAsia	Scoot	Remarks
1	# of stops	2 (KUL and Osaka)	2 (Singapore and Osaka, )
2	Min Fare, for a date 4 month from now (Trichy-Honolulu)	INR 45500	1100 USD INR 72000 onwards
3	Lowest return fare I have seen during a sale	30k INR approx.	NA (Scoot Honolulu flight is recently launched. Need to see what is on offer on their next sale)
4	Extra fare for 20kg bag+ meals	9000 for 1 piece 20kg bag INR 200 per meal, around 1200 for 6 meals during the trip =10200 approx	150 USD extra for 20kg bag alone 260 USD for bag + meals (INR 17000)
5	Transit Airport	KLIA 2	Changi (one of the finest)

But does it make sense for Indians to go to Honolulu US for vacation or plan their US mainland visit via Honolulu? If beaches are your target, Mauritius, Seychelles, Maldives or Bali can be visited for one third the price. I've a detailed analysis in this earlier post. Quick answer is NO. But then, I don't think either Scoot or AirAsia is counting on Indian passengers to fill their flight to Honolulu. I feel Honolulu flight is targeted at customers in ASEAN countries who hitherto had to rely on Cathay Pacific or Singapore Airline to fly long distance to USA. So let us not complain much, just wait n watch.