I have some friends flying for Tiger, who are seriously considering moving to either Strategic or Jetstar. This article doesn't instill one with confidence! I hope that it becomes strong again, as besides providing jobs, it filled a portion of the Australian market, not covered by the others.
New chief executive for ailing Tiger Airways Australia
TIGER Airways Australia is believed to have secured a new chief executive as the loss-making airline struggles to slowly recover after its recent grounding for safety reasons.
The Singaporean-owned carrier is only now moving to nine daily return services, and a daily return service to Perth will start today.
It is also running five return daily flights between Melbourne and Sydney, as well as two Melbourne-Brisbane daily returns and one between Melbourne and the Gold Coast.
It is unclear what Civil Aviation Safety Authority restrictions remain on the airline and it continues to play its cards close to its chest, saying its marketing strategy is commercially sensitive and that its dealings with the regulator are confidential.
The airline announced it would reduce its fleet to eight aircraft, but it declined to answer questions about aircraft utilisation or load factors.
Start of sidebar.
Skip to end of sidebar.
End of sidebar.
Return to start of sidebar.
However, an industry source said only three Tiger planes appeared to be flying on Monday and the low-cost carrier would be paying monthly lease fees of $330,000 to $350,000 per aircraft. A traveller also reported that an early morning weekday flight had departed last week with only about 25 per cent of the seats having been sold.
Spokeswoman Vanessa Regan said the airline, which still has Adelaide as a destination on its website, was planning to return to other popular destinations in its next phase of development.
Ms Regan said the airline was pleased with the level of demand and "many flights were departing nearly full".
"Tiger Airways is developing the network plan proposed by the business," she said. "The resumption of domestic services is gradual in order to focus on operational excellence."
The airline would not comment on suggestions it had found a new chief executive, saying only it would make an announcement in due course.
It revealed last week that current boss Tony Davis would be gone by November 1 and indicated it was looking for an Australian replacement with local knowledge.