From late November this year, Scoot has taken over SilkAir's service to Palembang in Sumatra Indonesia, and has also added additional frequencies. To promote the new destination, sale fares were launched at a mere SGD$1 for the base fare. Taking advantage of the promotional fare, I booked a weekend trip to Palembang, all for a mere SGD$50 inclusive of taxes. A real steal!
Checked in at Terminal 2 and printed my boarding pass for the 1105am flight.
Terminal 2 aircraft movements.
The hybrid-livery baby Airbus A319 operating my flight being towed to the gate.
Departure Gate E1. This Scoot flight is code-shared with SilkAir and Singapore Airlines.
09 December 2017
Scoot
TR 250
Singapore (SIN) - Palembang (PLM)
A319
9V-TRA
Economy Class
Flight Time: 55M
Boarding the aircraft.
The usual black leather seating.
View out the window. I was seated at the second last row.
Scoot's A319, fitted with only 144 seats, definitely felt more spacious than the 180-seater A320, even at the second last row of the aircraft. Seat pitch is probably about an inch more than on the A320.
The stuff in the seatpocket.
Boarding in progress and surprisingly, the flight was pretty full.
Taxiing to the runway and passing the seriously understilised Terminal 4. Only a couple of AirAsia aircraft docked at the 17 narrow-bodies stands.
Departure from Rwy02C. It was a pretty cloudy day for flying.
Buy-on-board service commenced and there were a few takers. I guess SilkAir and SQ code-share passengers were offered free refreshments.
The view for most of the flight.
Descent commenced soon after and skies got clearer.
Approach and landing in Palembang.
Videos of the approach and landing.
Parked at the gate.
Disembarked.
Wings Air ATR72 beside and a last look at the A319.
Immigration took a while before we were out of the arrival hall.
Arrivals. Very limited international flights into Palembang.
Street of Palembang
Some of the sights in Palembang includes:
Palembang Fountain Circle
Masjid Agung Palembang
Ampera Monument
Stayed at The Arista Hotel, which is one of the better hotels in Palembang and across from the modern Icon shopping mall.
View from room.
The hotel breakfast buffet was outstanding!
Palembang is famous for its pempek, which are Palembang-styled fishcakes. Tried it at very popular eatery, Pempek Vico.
Nice report, Sir.
Actually I'm quite "disturbed" with SQ's strategy to withdraw Silkair service from Palembang and replace it with Scoot. Premium passengers on Palembang-Singapore route now only have the LCC options: Scoot and Jetstar.
Seeing the cabin photos, I think re-branding of Tigerair to Scoot doesn't change the "dark" situation of its cabin. Black and white colors still dominate the cabin. Why doesn't Tigerair give brighter colors, or at least adding some ads to make it more colorful?
Good pics of Palembang. I lived there for 3 years. Let me recommend you best places in Palembang to eat:
- Pempek Nony, Pempek Pak Raden, or Pempek Candy. Those are famous pempek stalls.
- Martabak Har, a legendary Indian-style murtabak with duck eggs and curry sauce.
- "Pagi Sore" Restaurant, selling nasi padang and personally for me Indonesia's best nasi padang I've ever tasted.
- "Sri Melayu" Restaurant, offering Malay cuisine. The "pindang" is very delicious.
Thanks for your report.