Scoot takes delivery of its first Embraer E190-E2 regional jet (2024)

Scoot’s new E190-E2 regional jet fleet has taken a step closer to entering service, with formal delivery of the low-cost carrier’s first of nine such aircraft taking place yesterday at Embraer’s facility in São José dos Campos, Brazil, just north of São Paulo.

The aircraft will depart on its delivery flight to Singapore Changi Airport later today, and is scheduled to arrive on Monday 15th April, following a mammoth 19,500km journey involving six separate flights via the Canary Islands, Greece, the Middle East and India.

This represents the first of nine such aircraft the carrier secured in a lease deal announced in February 2023.

Delivery of the type was slightly delayed, with the first two aircraft already supposed to be in revenue service by the end of March 2024, according to the airline group’s update in early 2023.

That timeline slipped to a single aircraft in service by late March, based on a November 2023 update, but it’s now apparent that both of the initial pair of jets will in fact enter service in May 2024.

By mid June the airline will be operating 45 weekly departures from Changi using these aircraft, on six different routes, including Koh Samui.

Handover ceremony

The aircraft was delivered to Scoot via lessor Azorra at a handover ceremony in Brazil on Thursday, which was attended by senior executives from Azorra, Scoot, and Embraer.

The first jet is named “Explorer 3.0” to mark the introduction of the third aircraft type in the Scoot fleet, after the Boeing 787 family and the Airbus A320 family.

Notably, Scoot’s introduction of the E190-E2 will mark the first time that the Singapore Airlines Group has operated any aircraft other than from the primary manufacturers Airbus and Boeing since 2000, when the last Fokker 70 left the SilkAir fleet.

The second Scoot E190-E2 will be delivered later this month, followed by three more aircraft between September and December 2024, and the final four arriving sometime in 2025.

Scoot will become the first Asian carrier to operate the Embraer E2 when the aircraft lifts off for Krabi on 7th May 2024.

Long delivery route

It is “only” 15,968km from Embraer’s production facility in Brazil to Singapore Changi Airport, however that direct routing is unfeasible since there are insufficient airports at which to make the necessary refuelling stops along the way in these smaller aircraft.

Instead Scoot’s E190-E2s will take a routing some 22% longer, totalling 19,500km, via Europe, the Middle East and India, in order to reach their new home, based on the plans for the first aircraft making the mammoth journey this weekend. The trip will take around three days, including longer stops for crew rest.

Here’s how it looks.

Scoot has the benefit of its own handling support contracts in Athens and Hyderabad, while the airline has delivered many Airbus A320 family aircraft via Dubai World City in the past, so this should smoothen the journey.

In previous E2 deliveries to European customers like KLM and Wideroe, it’s Embraer pilots who fly the aircraft as far as the Canary Islands, under their PR- registration, before they are re-registered there and continue their journeys under the customer’s operators certificate.

It will be interesting to see whether the same process is replicated for Scoot’s deliveries, but if so that would mean that Scoot pilots potentially only need to fly the final four flights in the long sequence.

Routes

Scoot will be readying its first E190-E2 for service after its arrival in Singapore, with a three-week lead time ahead of its entry into service, to allow for crew familiarisation and pilot training.

The first commercial service will be TR684 to Krabi on Tuesday 7th May 2024, departing at 3.45pm. Later that day, the aircraft will also operate TR630 to Hat Yai, with a 9.55pm departure.

For those interested, seats on the inaugural Singapore – Krabi flight are still available for S$178 one-way at the time of writing, while Singapore – Hat Yai is S$127 one-way.

Here’s how Scoot’s schedule for the Embraer E190-E2 looks between May and October 2024, using the first two aircraft.

• 🇹🇭 Krabi
  10 x weekly (from 7th May 2024)
• 🇹🇭 Hat Yai
  10 x weekly (from 7th May 2024)
• 🇹🇭 Koh Samui
  7 x weekly (from 13th May 2024)
  10 x weekly (from 27th May 2024)
  14 x weekly (from 6th June 2024)
• 🇲🇾 Miri
  4 x weekly (from 20th May 2024)
• 🇲🇾 Kuantan
  4 x weekly (from 3rd June 2024)
• 🇲🇾 Sibu
  3 x weekly (from 5th June 2024)

For Hat Yai and Krabi, 10 x weekly E190-E2 flights will replace existing 7 x weekly Airbus A320 flights for Scoot, which is a frequency increase but actually results in lower overall seat capacity of 1,120 per week in each direction (11% lower than the current 1,260 per week in each direction).

For Miri and Kuantan, 4 x weekly E190-E2 flights will replace existing 3 x weekly Airbus A320 flights for Scoot, which again is a frequency increase but again results in lower overall seat capacity of 448 per week in each direction (17% lower than the current 540 per week in each direction).

Like Koh Samui, Sibu in Malaysia is a new destination for Scoot.

Apart from Koh Samui, all of these airports on the E190-E2 network can also support Airbus A320 family operation, giving Scoot some essential flexibility against technical problems with the Embraers, while the fleet is small.

With three more aircraft due for delivery in the last few months of 2024, it will be interesting to see what other cities make it onto the E190-E2’s route map.

The E190-E2 passenger experience

Scoot has configured its E190-E2s with 112 seats in a single-class (Economy) 2-2 configuration, ideal for what the airline calls “thinner routes to non-metro destinations”.

Naturally, that will make it the smallest member of the airline’s fleet.

Scoot aircraft by seating capacity
(highest to lowest)

Seat pitch will be around 29 inches, with width of around 18 inches. That’s quite comparable to those fitted on board the airline’s Airbus A320neo aircraft, though the big selling point for the regional jet is the 2-2 layout, giving all passengers either a window or aisle seat.

Here’s how the seat map looks.

Rows 1 and 11 are the extra legroom seats, which Scoot calls ‘Stretch’, and should have around 34″ of pitch, in common with the same seats on the carrier’s A320s and 787s.

Note that while Rows 2 to 4 are advertised as ‘Front’ seats, they don’t have any extra legroom, they’ll just help you disembark first.

Here’s how the one-way seat selection is priced for one of the E190s upcoming routes – Singapore to Koh Samui route:

• ‘Stretch’ (Row 1): S$28
• ‘Stretch’ (Row 11): S$25
• ‘Front’ (Rows 2-4): S$15
• Rows 5-9: S$11
• Row 10: S$10 (no recline)
• Rows 12-17: S$9
• Rows 18-28: S$8 (no recline in Row 28)

Do be aware that Scoot has flagged Row 10 and Row 28 as non-reclining seats.

The 2-2 layout is particularly ideal for couples, with no dreaded “middle seat” in play, and even for solo travellers there’s a maximum of one seat to climb over to reach the aisle, or one stranger in a window seat needing to get past you if you’re at the aisle position.

Having flown on an E190 (E1 – first generation) a couple of times in Europe, I can assure you the overhead locker space is no match for an A320 or 787, but otherwise it’s a perfectly pleasant jet experience, and the 2-2 seating is a definite plus.

The good news for the E2 is that overhead lockers are 40% larger than their predecessors, with the manufacturer claiming that “each passenger on the aircraft can stow his/her own standard-sizecarry-on bag in the bins”.

One toilet at the front and one at the rear of the cabin will give passengers a seat-to-toilet ratio of 56:1, the best of any Scoot aircraft in Economy Class.

Scoot Economy Class seat-to-toilet ratio
(worst to best)

Source: Scoot / aeroLOPA

Two pilots and three cabin crew will operate the E190-E2 aircraft, a saving of only one cabin crew member compared to the carrier’s Airbus A320 flights.

That’s hopefully good news for on-board service, with each cabin crew member serving only 37 passengers on a full flight, compared to 47 passengers on an Airbus A320neo.

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Scoot has taken delivery of the first of nine Embraer E190-E2 regional jets joining its fleet between now and the end of 2025, becoming the first airline in Asia to operate the type.

This aircraft will fly a gruelling 19,500km delivery journey to Singapore this weekend, finally touching down at its new home Changi Airport sometime on Monday next week.

Another aircraft will follow in late April, with three more due in the September to December 2024 period, followed by the final four in 2025.

The E190-E2 boasts a 2-2 seating layout and its smaller capacity and shorter takeoff and landing distances mean it should unlock some new non-stop destinations from Singapore over the coming months, Koh Samui already being one of the most popular announced so far.

Sources: Embraer, The Straits Times

(Cover Photo: Embraer)