Tiger Airways : TR : TRW

Low cost carriers are an inevitable part of the airline industry that needs to be taken seriously by the full service carriers, says Tiger Group CEO Tony Davis.

"The reality is that customers want low fares," says Davis, who was speaking at the Association of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] assembly of presidents in Singapore. "Everyone has to realise that this is the reality. Once they fly with us, they try us, they see how reasonable and efficient we are, especially on the short haul sectors, they continue to use us."

He reiterates that it is a mistake to dismiss low-cost carriers.

Looking back to the start of his career at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], he says that the UK carrier initially did not take upstarts like Easyjet and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] seriously. This was to its cost, as both carriers are now major challengers to almost all legacy airlines in Europe.

During the economic crisis, it has been the low cost carriers that have proved better able to cope with lower demand and grow, he adds.

"Low cost carriers can use these dips in the cycle to grow," he says. "Low cost carriers are still ordering aircraft and taking delivery of aircraft at a time when everyone else is not. We are still growing."

Singapore's Tiger Airways has finalised an advanced delivery agreement with [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] for four [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] aircraft.
Originally scheduled to be delivered in 2016, they will be delivered in 2011, says the low-cost carrier.
It concluded a similar agreement for another five A320s last month. These five aircraft will be delivered this year and in early 2011, instead of 2016.

"Following our strong operating numbers in the last quarter, we have further accelerated aircraft deliveries to take on the growth opportunities awaiting us in Asia and Australasia," says Tiger's CEO Tony Davis.
The airline operates 18 A320 family aircraft and will receive its 19th this month. It aims to increase its fleet to 68 by December 2015.

Singapore's [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] plans to double its fleet size over the next two years.
It will increase its fleet to 33 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] by March 2012, up from 19 currently, says the low-cost carrier's CEO Tony Davis.

Seven aircraft will arrive during each fiscal year for the next two years, says a Tiger spokesman. They plan to base the aircraft in both Singapore and Australia.

The airline plans to operate 68 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] family aircraft eventually by December 2015, and has 49 on order.
Tiger, which recently raised S$247.7 million ($178.5) from its initial public offering, is using some of the funds to acquire new aircraft.
It has moved away from leasing aircraft to owing them, and recently received its second purchased A320.
The airline will continue to buy aircraft instead of leasing them to be more cost-efficient, says Davis.

Singapore-based low-cost carrier [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] has pounced on [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] delivery positions that have become available through deferrals to bring receipt of two more A320s forward by a year. The airline, which operates 19 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] family aircraft, expects to take delivery of nine aircraft in its current fiscal year ending 31 March 2011. Tiger had previously advanced deliveries of nine A320s from 2016 to later this year and 2011.

Singapore's budget carrier Tiger Airways and Thai Airways will jointly launch a low-cost airline that is expected to start operations next year, they said in statement on Monday.

© 2010 AFP

Thai Airways International and Singapore-based Tiger Airways have agreed to form a new low-cost carrier based in Bangkok.

The new airline, to be called Thai Tiger Airways, will start operations in the first quarter of 2011 pending regulatory approval, say the two carriers after signing a memorandum of understanding.

It will operate domestic and international flights within a five-hour flying radius out of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport using Airbus A320 aircraft.

"The route network and further information on the corporate structure will be announced in due course," say the airlines.
Thai, and an undisclosed Thai entity, will hold a 51% stake in the new carrier while Tiger will own the remaining 49%, says Thai's president Piyasvasti Amranand.

"We believe that this move will provide revenue opportunities for Thai, and allow Thai to be more competitive in the region with the anticipated growth in the low cost market," he adds.
This growth will come from the Association of South-east Asian Nations' [Asean] air liberalisation policies, which will come into effect by 2015 and should help grow air travel in Asia, says Piyasvasti.

Thai will hold the chairmanship on the new airline's board, which will have three nominees from Thai and two from Tiger.
Tiger's group president and CEO Tony Davis says: "Thai Tiger will be well positioned to offer low fares to even more parts of the Asia-Pacific region from its base in Asia's tourism leader, Thailand. Bangkok is a key gateway to the whole of Southeast Asia and from its base at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Thai Tiger will be well positioned to also serve destinations in North Asia and the Indian sub-continent."

Tiger, in which Thai's fellow Star Alliance partner Singapore Airlines has a 34% stake, which was established in 2004. It has a fully-owned subsidiary in Australia offering domestic services, and Bangkok will be its third base.
It had plans to set up associate carriers in South Korea and the Philippines a few years ago, but dropped those citing the economic downturn and regulatory uncertainty.

Malaysian low-cost rival AirAsia has Bangkok-based associate, Thai Air Asia, which operates both domestic and international services.
Thai's low-cost subsidiary, Nok Air, also operates flights out of Bangkok but from the smaller Don Mueang Airport.

Tiger Airways Holdings reported net income of S$1.9 million ($1.4 million) for its first fiscal quarter ended June 30, much improved over a loss of S$6 million for the year-ago period.

It attributed the gain to strong passenger growth, unit revenue increases and continued strict cost control.

Operating revenue rose 45% to S$145.1 million while operating expenses increased 35.9% to S$144.3 million, producing an operating profit of S$800,000, reversed from a S$6.1 million operating loss in the year-ago period.

President and CEO Tony Davis said, “We are pleased by the results...In particular, recording year-on-year unit revenue improvement in the midst of increased seat capacity in both Singapore and Australia is satisfying and highlights the robustness of our low-cost, low-fare model.”

Traffic lifted 17.7% to 1.9 billion RPKs on a 16.5% increase in capacity to 2.3 billion ASKs, producing a load factor of 84.2%, up 1.3 points.

RASK heightened 24.2% to S$0.0641 and CASK increased 16.6% to S$0.0638.

CASK ex-fuel was S$0.0362, up 5.5%.

Going forward, Davis said Tiger is committed to a 40% increase in its Singapore-based fleet over the next six months.

Four additional aircraft will fly to Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Macau and Shenzhen, and new
daily service will begin between Singapore and Taipei.

Tiger recently signed an MOU to form a new low-fare airline in Thailand with Thai Airways International. The new airline, to be known as Thai Tiger, is expected to begin operations in the first quarter of 2011 ([Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]).

ATSB report finds Tiger Airways Airbus flew for eight months with a wing fault

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A TIGER Airways passenger jet flew for eight months with a faulty wing before the problem was fixed and reported to investigators, an air safety report reveals.
The report tells how the problem was only reported when the Airbus A320, carrying 125 passengers in May last year, began to shake continuously during a Melbourne bound flight.

Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators say in the report that the problem should have been reported eight months earlier when it was experienced by another pilot, forcing him to turn back and land.

In both instances the shaking disappeared when the jet was landing.

Investigators found that Tiger Airways, the operator of the aircraft, failed to comply with the Transport Safety Investigation Act by not reporting the earlier incident.

Responding in a statement Tiger Airlines said the symptoms of both incidents were similar, but the problems were unrelated and that ongoing safety is never compromised.

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The report attributed the incident to a servo valve controlling the movement of the flaps on trailing edge of the left wing.

Investigators said the valve was adjusted incorrectly when the plane was built in 2007 causing undue wear in the flap control mechanism.

The wing flaps, otherwise known as ailerons, are hinged surfaces that move up and down on the wings during during flight to increase or reduce the varying degrees of lift on an aircraft.

In its report yesterday, the ATSB offered a detailed picture of the incident, telling how the Tiger aicraft, registered VH-VNC left Mackay aerodrome in Queensland for Melbourne on May 18 last year with 125 passengers and six crew.

During the flight a caution message appeared in the cockpit warning of a flight control problem.

At the time the crew reported that there appeared to be no flight control problems.

But the report tells that once the jet reached cruise height of 35,000ft, a "light continuous shaking became evident within the aicraft.''

Ten minutes into the incident it was estimated that the left aileron was moving up and down five degrees, with the flight manager reporting to the pilot that the left wing was "moving up and down.''

A subsequent check by the co-pilot confirmed the flight manager's report.

"He identified to the pilot in charge that the left aileron was moving up and down continuously, and that the left wing was moving up and down through about 1 metre,'' the report says, telling how the pilot decided to divert to the Gold Coast.

According to the report the vibration increased at 20,000 ft as the jet descended.

The regulator noted that Tiger Airways had revised its safety reporting system and included additional training for its flight and cabin crews and Airbus had had found a new way to adjust the hydraulic valve

Singapore - Singapore [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Tiger Airways on Thursday said it had agreed to buy a 33-per-cent
stake in Indonesia's PT Mandala Airlines for an undisclosed amount. Mandala Airlines is currently undergoing a financial restructuring process in accordance with Indonesian laws, Tiger Airways said in a statement.

The [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] planned to adopt the Tiger Airways business model, offering low-fare travel to destinations within a 5-hour flying radius from Indonesia, it said.

The deal was subject to due diligence and conclusion of definitive contracts, Tiger Airways said.

Tiger Airways, which is partly owned by national flag carrier Singapore Airlines, said the largest shareholder in the restructured Mandala Airlines would be Indonesia's Saratoga Group with a 51-per-cent stake.

Australia grounds Singapore's Tiger Airways over safety

CANBERRA, July 2 (Reuters) - The Australian government's airline safety regulator said it has grounded the local operations of Singapore's budget carrier Tiger Airways Holding Ltd. as it investigates "serious" safety concerns.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) said it has grounded the carrier's entire domestic fleet of 10 Airbus A320 aircraft for a week after it failed to adequately respond to safety concerns first raised in March.
"This action has been taken because CASA believes permitting the airline to continue to fly poses a serious and imminent risk to air safety," the authority said in a statement on Saturday.
It's the first time a carrier's entire fleet has been grounded in Australia, CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said.
Tiger's domestic flights are grounded until July 9 but flights to Singapore from Australia are not affected. It operates 14 Airbus A320 aircraft in Singapore, serving regional routes to other Southeast Asian countries, India and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].
Singapore Airlines controls about a third of the budget carrier but is not involved in its operation.
Separately, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said on its website that it's investigating an incident involving a Tiger Airways A320 aircraft that was reported to have descended below the published minimum altitude while conducting an approach to Avalon Airport, near Melbourne on June 30.

HOLIDAY SEASON
The authority issued a "show cause" notice to Tiger Airways Australia in March and subsequently imposed a number of conditions on the carrier.
These included actions to improve the proficiency of pilots, changes to fatigue management and improvements to maintenance control and ongoing airworthiness systems, it said.
Since that notice, there have been recent events that have raised concerns about the airline's ability to operate safely, the authority added.
"If we've lost confidence in the safety of the airline, obviously we can't allow it to continue," Gibson said.
CASA said it might apply to the Federal Court for an extension of the ban to complete its investigation.
The grounding follows weeks of disruption to flights within Australia caused by ash clouds from a volcano in Chile that erupted last month.
Australian Transport Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on Saturday that the government regretted that the travel plans of some 40,000 passengers would be affected by the grounding but added that public safety was paramount.
The suspension coincides with the start of school holidays in Australia's two most populous states.
Other domestic carriers are helping to fly stranded passengers and rolling stoppages called by the union representing Qantas Airways engineers have been postponed to allow for extra flights to be laid on.
The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers' Association had planned several strikes between Monday and Wednesday to protest over pay and the airline's growing use of overseas maintenance workers.
Tiger's affected passengers will be offered a full refund or deferred credit for any flights this week, the company said in a statement on its website.
"Tiger Airways continues to cooperate fully with the industry regulator and safety underpins our operations at all times," it said.

Australian Aviation Regulator on Tiger Air Ban

Peter Gibson, a spokesman for Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority, talks about the suspension of Tiger Airways Holdings Ltd.'s local services because of safety concerns. Tiger Australia’s fleet of 10 Airbus SAS A320s was grounded by the nation’s aviation regulator on July 1 until at least July 9 because of a "serious and imminent risk to air safety." Gibson speaks from Canberra with Rishaad Salamat on Bloomberg Television's "On the Move Asia."

Tiger Airways Australia has appointed an ex-Qantas chief pilot as a safety advisor to the CEO.
Chris Manning, a 40-year industry veteran, will assume the position immediately, reporting directly to the grounded carrier's CEO, Tony Davis.
"Chris is one of the most experienced pilots and operational advisors in Australia and we are lucky to have him working with our business," said Davis. "Safety will continue to underpin our operations at all times and with the assistance of Chris, I am confident that Tiger Airways will operate with the highest levels of safety management across our entire operation, both on the ground and in the air."

Manning is a fellow at the Royal Aeronautical Society and a former president of the International Pilots Association. Besides serving as chief pilot, he was also group general manager of flight operations at Qantas, a company he first joined in 1970.
Manning's appointment follows the recent appointment of Davis, who previously headed Tiger Airways Australia's parent company Tiger Holdings. On 6 July, Davis replaced former CEO Crawford Rix, who left Tiger after just one year with the company.

Davis added that Manning's appointment is aimed at showing the aviation sector and public that Tiger is "committed to a safe, viable, and long term future in Australia."

Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) issued a 30-page show cause notice (SCN) on 23 March that charged that Tiger, "on a number of occasions", broke provisions of the Civil Aviation Act, Civil Aviation Regulations 1988 and Civil Aviation Orders, according to CASA's response to a freedom of information request.
On 1 July, CASA ground Tiger, owing to what it called "immediate and serious safety reasons".
On 7 July, CASA sought an extension of the grounding until 1 August to allow it more time to complete its investigation into Tiger's safety record. Australia's Federal Court has set 22 July for a directions hearing into this application.
CASA on 12 July said the contents of the SCN could "cause damage to Tiger Airways' reputation".
"The allegations made in the SCN and the responses by Tiger concerning them would, or at least could reasonably be expected to, cause damage to Tiger Airways' reputation - which may lead to damage to its business, commercial and financial interests," CASA said.
On 14 July, CASA said the carrier had breached its air operator's certificate before it was issued the SCN in March. Subsequent incidents included two breaches of flying below minimum safe altitudes.

Tiger Airways to Buy 33% of Mandala

Singapore-listed budget carrier Tiger Airways Holdings Ltd. Friday said it has signed a deal to buy a 33% equity stake in Indonesia's PT Mandala Airlines.

The investment will be held through Tiger's wholly owned subsidiary in Singapore, Roar Aviation Pte. Ltd., it said in a statement to Singapore Exchange, without giving financial details of the deal.

Mandala is undergoing a financial restructuring, after which its largest shareholder will be the Saratoga group, with a 51% stake. The remaining 16% will be held by the previous shareholders and creditors of Mandala, according to the statement.

The next stage of the investment process satisfying certain conditions, including regulatory approvals. The process is expected to be completed in about 90 days, after which flight operations are expected to start, it said.

The restructured airline will adopt the Tiger Airways business model, and plans to offer low-fare travel to international and domestic Indonesian destinations within a five-hour flying radius and operate Airbus A320 aircraft, it added.

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