SINGAPORE - Budget carrier Scoot on Friday (Dec 1) announced that it will be introducing Singapore-Berlin flights in the second half of next year, in what will be its third long-haul destination.

It intends to start selling tickets to the flights, which will operate four times a week, in the first quarter of next year.

The route from Singapore to Berlin will take about 13 hours, while the return leg will take 12 hours and 30 mins.

The flights to Germany's capital will be operated with Boeing 787 Dreamliners and will be Scoot's second European destination.

It currently operates 11.5-hour-long flights to Athens, Greece, which was its first long-haul destination.

The second long-haul destination it runs is to Honolulu, Hawaii. This was first reported in May this year and flights will launch this month.

The flight from Singapore to Honolulu via Osaka will take 12h and 50min while the route back will take 16h 25min.

Mr Lee Lik Hsin, Scoot's chief executive, said Scoot's merger with Tigerair Singapore earlier this year "greatly strengthened" its position, allowing it to launch and sustain long-haul operations.

"Athens has lived up to our expectations while bookings for Honolulu have been very promising," he said.

Scoot currently flies to 62 destinations across 16 countries with its fleet of 16 787 Dreamliners and 23 Airbus A320 family aircraft.

The budget carrier is the low-cost arm of the Singapore Airlines Group, which already flies to three destinations in Germany: Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich.