Tiger to suspend LST flights

[ymlt2]

Very strong rumour that Tiger are pulling out of LST & some sort of announcement to be made tomorrow, no bookings can be made after 1 August on the website.

[Sunstar320]

Another Tasmanian route is also getting the chop.

[HOBAY 3]

No HBA-ADL available from the same dates. I thought it was funny that HBA-ADL and LST-MEL weren't in the last sale when it is low season for them both! I wonder if HBA-ADL has anything to do with airport charges at HBA which still haven't been resolved and a new agreement is meant to be negotiated by September???

[Sunstar320]

They were both poor performers and hovered around the 100pax mark.

[KRUSTY 34]

You can only lose money for so long. Doesn't matter who's backing you!

[thornycactus]

Becareful...she [right click here (http://www.pprune.org/5806096-post12.html)] is watching this thread.

She already knew who are the posters here. (http://www.pprune.org/south-asia-far-east/420801-tiger.html)

[Stationair8]

That's about the time when they resume the Darwin service.

[tasdevil.f27]

Tiger haven't really gone out of there way to build there services at LST, continually changing flight schedules every month etc. There is no doubt that there is an over capacity in the market into LST with all airlines struggling.

I feel sorry for the Aero-Care crew who have been struggling along on 3 hrs a day, understaffed and trying to get the job done as best they can for the last 3-4 years. Tiger have known for sometime that they were cutting the service yet either they never informed AC or AC has sat on their hands and not told staff until now. Last flight 1 August.

[MyerFlyer]

Jetstar are offering some help:


Jetstar has today announced that for customers of Tiger Airways who have a future flight between Launceston and Melbourne cancelled, that they can contact our airline and receive a $50 Jetstar travel voucher* for each paying passenger to put towards a return flight on any route on the Jetstar network. (*Conditions apply).

People with a cancelled Tiger Airways itinerary* (for travel between Melbourne and Launceston from 2 August 2010) will receive a $50 Jetstar travel voucher (applicable for each paying passenger) by emailing their itinerary to [email protected] or via fax to (03) 9349 5116.

Please ensure to include your first name and surname, an email address and phone number and the voucher will be forwarded by email within five business days.

Full information is available at Jetstar.com or through Jetstar Telephone Reservations (131 538).

[fritzandsauce]

HBA-ADL The route was always marginal when Tiger started they made it more marginal and Virgin Blue pulled out. But if Tiger loads were around 100 pax then it would be perfect for Virgin Blue to restart flights using the E190.

[GAFA]

Virgin operated the 190 on ADL-HBA and pulled out early last year due to not making any money on the route.

[Normasars]

tasdevil,

I think your statement that everyone on the LST route is struggling is not correct. I would hazard a guess that QLINK courtesy of the Q400 would be making a packet out of it. That machine is a licence to print money, and a close friend of mine who is in the know WRT operating costs of the Q400 told me that it has a break even load factor of @ 19 pax.

QF crunched the numbers on the E170 and couldn't get it within a bulls roar of the Q400. Now VB are looking at unloading the E170 as it is too expensive to operate and can't compete head to head with the 400.

Take it from me, the ML-LT-ML Dash8 service is very well patronised and loads are very healthy. I used to do it for a number of years.

[ymlt2]

The loads in & out of LST are down somewhat across all jet carriers, but that is fairly common for this time of year. 1 particular Jet carrier canceled flights recently due only having 30 odd booked on it.

Tas may have been making a general overall statement without getting down the nitty gritty of each particular airline?

[Eastwest Loco]

Launnie will hopefully see Ratlink Q400 services for years to come.

I must admit to not considering TT in the mix when offering fares out of LST.

The 1 flight a day and zero connectivity made them as popular as a pork chop at a Yiddish wedding.

The local government wankers here in DPO are currently carrying on about the possible sale of the Airport and luring in a LCC.

Last thing we want. We stand the possibility of losing a mostly 4 flight a day full connectivity service with a legacy carrier (the only one left on this rock for a full covcer of a day from a particular port) and with that goes the ability to have a fare basis start in Tas and take you to the world. This means you are the Airline's problem from go to whoa. Off a LCC, good luck bucko. You on you own sonny!

As with MQL the DJ service is just PM not offering the business option flights which allow day returns as offered by QF and ZL but what there presence does is effectively leach the value out of the daytime services for the others.

I was told the main reason they opened the service was to get up the nose of ZL. They and QF still seem to be doing quite nicely and good on them.

Are the Jungle Jets turning into DJ's CRJ experience?

With all respect for the good people and true that work for DJ, I kind of hope so.

Back to Tiger.

No 1 son flew them a few times and had no problems. 38 minute block time is not really an issue in a cramped seat.

Maybe their departure will throw some further viability back to QF DJ and JQ.

Having been made redundant 3 times over my years with the Airlines I loved, I do wish the Areo Care people all the best of luck finding employment. Their is something flattening about having an Airline pulled from under you when you were doing your best.

Best all

EWL

[On eyre]

And a big pity if the TT ADL-HBA direct services goes the same way.
Have used these flights several times for the Tassie experience and very convenient for I think six times weekly.
Seems to me this holiday/visiting friends and rellies service should be/have been promoted better in SA.
I agree that it might be an avenue for DL to utilise the EMB's but what would I know.

[Freedom7]

From Bigpond.com

Jetstar boosts Launceston services
Thursday, July 22, 2010 » 03:12pm

Low-cost carrier Jetstar will add an extra 2,500 seats a week into Launceston, moving quickly to fill the void left by Tiger Airways' imminent departure from the city.

From December this year, Jetstar will operate four return flights a day between Melbourne and Launceston, up from three currently.

The wholly-owned Qantas Airways Ltd subsidiary will also add an extra return flight a day between Sydney and Launceston. Jetstar presently operates one service a day on the route.

Jetstar chief executive Bruce Buchanan said the airline was working with Tourism Tasmania to support additional services into the island state.

'These new low fare flights reinforce our commitment to Tasmanian tourism and mark our next sustainable step-up in growth of Jetstar operations in Launceston, a community we have proudly served since 2004 alongside Qantas,' Mr Buchanan said in a statement.

Tiger Airways said last week it would stop flying between Adelaide and Hobart, as well as between Melbourne and Launceston, from August 2 due to weak demand.

[Sunstar320]

Jetstar are very good at announcing extra services but come early next year things are back to normal. Especially mid-week.

[tasdevil.f27]

Exactly, come end of summer they will drop the flights just as they have atm, numerous flights have been axed at LST since June, with August set to be the worst. Funny no one mentions these......

[Sunstar320]

Tiger have not even hit Cairns yet and Jetstar has already cut its evening run from November.

[adl1745]

Typical, the conditions are so poor and they are not obliged to tell the staff, so I am not surprised they didn't

[boocs]

all can't be that bad, word from a friend is pay rise confirmed, better roster and ADL staying as a base!!
b.

[wheels_down]

boocs, I think adl1745 was referring to Aerocare conditions.

Nobody ever said the Adl base was closing, just losing an aircraft. All will probably be back to normal come April 2011. Apparently alot of JQ guys have shifted across to TT too.

[Prado]

Normasars,

Break even point of 19 on the Q400?? We are talking the 70 seater? Would that be 19 full fare paying pax, 19 oncarriage pax, 19 deep discount pax? I doubt that service would be getting 19 full fare paying pax a flight atm.

A couple of my mates will no longer fly Qlink after having their bags lost 4 out of 5 flights and arriving on time 0 out of 10 flights. EWL, connectivity is the last thing on their minds, they're happy to collect their bags if it means they get 'em at the end destination!! :ok:

Perusing the LT schedule for summer, JQ seems to be the only carrier that's got extra flights in the market. DJ don't seem to have released anything extra to their normal schedule, or am I missing something?

Cheers
Prado

[bubble.head]

Pretty sure it is 19 full paying passengers. I doubt it would be that hard to fill such. Flights are late for a reason, and its 90% of the time, one single passenger is lost in the terminal.

Whats the flight time from LT to ADL? Maybe you should give it to the big boys to play, and i mean the qlink crew! :ok:

[Prado]

Bubble head, 5 or 10 minutes could be put down to a lost pax, after all it shouldn't take long to find bags on that size aircraft if they offload. These guys reckon 20-30 minutes late at best, 90min+ twice, a bit harder to pin to lost pax? Those most likely to pay the full fare don't appreciate that sort of OTP, so it might take a lot more bums paying discounted fares to reach that magical break even point!

To a casual observer, it looks like the ADL market isn't of appeal to many Tassie people, no matter who operates it or how cheap the fares may be.

Cheers
Prado

[Spinnerhead]

Girls, Girls, Girls

The point about the break even point of a Q400 is that it is sweet FA. Nothing can compete with a Q400, on minus 300nm sectors (am being conservative here). As for on time performance, Qlink were better than V and Blow Cat in the last 12 mths. So lets not get all tied up in knots about the fine details.

[Prado]

Spinnerhead, I was always led to believe it was the finer details (or ignorance of), that would bring you undone ;)

Good luck with your rose coloured view.

Cheers
Prado.