Thailand's Nok Air and Singapore-based Scoot have today announced plans to set-up a new low-cost carrier in the Asia-Pacific region.
The airline will be branded Nokscoot and will operate wide-body Airbus aircraft on medium and long-haul international routes, subject to regulatory approval. It plans to start flights in the second half of 2014.
Nok Air will own 51 per cent of Nokscoot, which will be based at Don Muang airport in Bangkok, while Scoot will have a 49 per cent stake. Scoot is a no-frills subsidiary of Singapore Airlines which started flying in June 2012.
Both airlines will make an initial joint investment of £39 million ($64 million) in the joint venture.
Nok Air CEO Patee Sarasin said: "It has always been Nok's goal to offer Thais more choice and more value, of which this venture is yet another example.
"We're also excited at the opportunity to encourage more inbound tourists, to boost the Thai economy."
The announcement was made on the same day as Tigerair also unveiled a joint venture with China Airways for their own no-frills carrier, to be called Tigerair Taiwan. Tigerair will hold a 10 per cent stake in the new airline which is expected to begin operations at the end of 2014.
Details of the fleet have yet to be confirmed, but the network will cover major destinations in north-east and south-east Asia, Hong Kong, Macau, China and Taiwan.
nokair.com
flyscoot.com
china-airlines.com
tigerair.com