Scoot

A low-cost airline with a Dreamliner that flies all the way from Singapore to Europe – that sounds contradictory at first. That is exactly what Scoot is: the budget sister of Singapore Airlines, with Boeing 787s on long-haul and a colorful mix of Airbus and Embraer in Asia. For spotters in Europe, Scoot is a rather rare visitor. If you want to see it, you need to know where and how. This page helps you with that.

Scoot at a glance

Scoot is the low-cost subsidiary of Singapore Airlines. The parent company announced the new airline in 2011, it got its name in November 2011, and in June 2012 the first flight went from Singapore to Sydney. The hub is Singapore Changi Airport, which Scoot shares with Singapore Airlines.

What set it apart from the start was its orientation: many low-cost airlines stay on short- and medium-haul. Scoot, by contrast, started with widebody aircraft and destinations in Australia and Asia that are several flight hours away. That makes Scoot one of the few budget carriers that transferred the low-cost model to long-haul – similar to AirAsia X from Malaysia or French Bee in Europe.

How this model works in general – base fare, paid extras, dense seating – is explained in the article How budget airlines work. Scoot follows this principle: baggage, meals and seat selection cost extra. On the Boeing 787s there is also a comfort class called ScootPlus with more space.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code TR: appears in the flight number, on the departure board and on the ticket.
• ICAO code TGW: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on ADS-B trackers.
• Callsign SCOOTER: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio.

There is a reason TR and TGW don’t sound like “Scoot.” The codes originally belonged to its sister airline Tigerair. When the Singapore Airlines group merged the two airlines in 2017, Scoot flew from then on with Tigerair’s air operator certificate and took over its codes. The old Scoot codes TZ and SCO were given up, while the airline kept the brand name and the callsign “SCOOTER.” You can read more about the difference between the two code systems under IATA and ICAO codes explained, and about the logic behind callsigns under Callsign and flight number.

From Tigerair to Scoot: a short history

Scoot’s story can be told in a few chapters.

For a time Scoot was also active in Thailand through a joint venture: NokScoot, founded together with Nok Air, flew from Bangkok from 2015 and went into liquidation in 2020. In addition, Scoot was a founding member of the Value Alliance in 2016, an association of Asian low-cost airlines that included Cebu Pacific and Jeju Air, among others. That alliance has been inactive since 2023.

The fleet: Boeing, Airbus and Embraer

For a low-cost airline, Scoot’s fleet is strikingly mixed. According to the common fleet lists (as of 2026) it looks roughly like this:

Type	Number (approx.)	Seats	Use	Spotter tip
Boeing 787-8	13	about 330 (ScootPlus and Economy)	Long-haul, including Europe	Shorter 787 version, registrations following the pattern 9V-OF.
Boeing 787-9	11	375 (ScootPlus and Economy)	Long-haul, including Europe	Stretched version, registrations following the pattern 9V-OJ.
Airbus A320	6	180	Short- and medium-haul in Asia	Older generation, partly from the Tigerair fleet
Airbus A320neo	12	186	Short- and medium-haul in Asia	More on order
Airbus A321neo	12	236	Medium-haul in Asia	Densely seated, first used in 2021
Embraer E190-E2	9	112	Regional routes in Southeast Asia	In the fleet since 2024

For Europe only the Boeing 787 is relevant: only it has the range for the route from Singapore to Vienna or Athens. So you see the Boeing 787-8 and the longer Boeing 787-9 when Scoot lands in Europe. The manufacturer is Boeing.

In Asia it gets more varied. Besides the older A320 there are the A320neo and A321neo. How to tell the old and new A320 generations apart is shown in the comparison A320neo or ceo?. The real surprise is the Embraer E190-E2: with 112 seats it is much smaller than the Airbuses. Scoot uses it on routes for which an A320 would be too big. With Scoot, the manufacturer Embraer has thus won a customer from the low-cost segment in Southeast Asia.

787-8 or 787-9? How to tell them apart

In Europe, then, you meet a 787 with Scoot. Which version is coming is hard to tell at first glance – both wear the same livery and have the same nacelles.

The most reliable is a look at the tracker or the registration. Without data, eyeballing helps: the 787-9 is about six meters longer, which shows mainly behind the wing. How type codes like B788 and B789 are built is explained in ICAO type codes explained. And if you are unsure whether a Dreamliner is coming at all or rather an Airbus widebody: the comparison A350 or Boeing 787? helps – especially in Vienna, where widebodies of other Asian airlines can land the same day.

How to recognize Scoot

Scoot relies on yellow as its signature color. The fuselage is mostly white, with the lowercase “scoot” titles and yellow accents. Next to the subtle colors of many network carriers the livery stands out, especially in backlight or under overcast skies. One well-known exception was a Boeing 787-9 with a Pokémon design (9V-OJJ), which Scoot operated from July 2022 as the “Pikachu Jet” – such special liveries are sought-after subjects, but their time in service is limited.

Spotting Scoot in Europe

Scoot is a rare visitor in Europe. As of October 2026, its Dreamliners land at two airports:

Airport	Status	Note
Vienna Schwechat	nonstop from Singapore, since 2025	Nearest Scoot destination for spotters from Germany and Switzerland
Athens	nonstop from Singapore, in the network since 2017	At times with onward flight to Berlin
Berlin	discontinued in spring 2025	In the network from 2018, first Tegel, later BER
London Gatwick	discontinued 2022	Served only briefly, from December 2021 to summer 2022

For spotters from German-speaking countries, Vienna is therefore the obvious address. The airport offers two proven locations with the spotters’ hill and the observation deck; an overview of all options is given by the plane spotting guide for Vienna Schwechat. When long-haul flights from Asia typically arrive in Europe and depart again is explained in the article on long-haul arrival times. Check Scoot’s exact times and flight days in the current schedule beforehand – they can change between the summer and winter schedules.

If you travel to Southeast Asia, by contrast, you see Scoot constantly. At Singapore Changi the airline is part of daily life, and there you also meet A320neos, A321neos and E190-E2s. In the Asian low-cost market, Scoot shares the sky with airlines such as AirAsia and Jetstar.

Common mix-ups

• Taking TR for Turkey – the IATA code TR is purely an airline designator and belongs to Scoot.
• Searching for Scoot under “SCO” – that was the old ICAO code. Today Scoot flies as TGW.
• Thinking Tigerair Taiwan is a Scoot subsidiary – the Taiwanese airline belongs to a different group.
• Thinking every yellow 787 is Scoot – titles and the 9V registration give you certainty.
• Equating Scoot and Singapore Airlines – same parent, same hub, but two airlines with their own codes and fleets.
• Logging 787-8 and 787-9 by feel – registration or the type code on the tracker decide.

Conclusion

Scoot shows that low-cost doesn’t automatically have to mean short-haul and the A320. The Singapore Airlines subsidiary flies Dreamliners all the way to Europe, Airbus jets across Southeast Asia and, with the E190-E2, even a regional jet. For spotters in Central Europe it is a rare but well-plannable catch: if you stand at the fence in Vienna or Athens at the right time and filter the tracker for TGW, you have good chances of the yellow-and-white 787.