SilkAir (Singapore Changi) has suspended plans to transfer fourteen B737-800s to fellow Singapore Airlines Group member Scoot (TR, Singapore Changi) due to the ongoing grounding of B737-8s, The Straits Times has reported.
"As a result of the recent B737 MAX 8 grounding, the B737-800 transfer plans are being suspended and the aircraft will remain with SilkAir until there is clarity on the MAX 8 situation," a group spokesperson said.
The carriers announced the plan last November. The first of the fourteen B737-800s was due to be grounded for pre-delivery maintenance in May 2019 and to subsequently enter into service with Scoot in June or July.
SilkAir currently operates seventeen B737-800s. The three units which were not due for a transfer to Scoot would be retired by the airline. Its fleet also includes six currently inactive B737 MAX 8s, as well as two A319-100s and eight A320-200s.
The suspension of the aircraft transfer will not impact the network readjustment. Low-cost carrier Scoot is currently in the process of taking over some services from its full-service sister carrier SilkAir, most recently to Luang Prabang and Vientiane in Laos.
In order to maintain the planned pace of network growth, Scoot said it will consider wet-leasing aircraft from the market.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Scoot currently operates one A319-100, twenty-six A320-200s, two A320-200neo, ten B787-8s, and eight B787-9s.
SilkAir is due to be merged into Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi) in the 2020s as part of the group's realignment strategy which would see its portfolio simplified to just two brands: full-service Singapore Airlines and low-cost Scoot.
