Tiger brings forward more aircraft deliveries

[lloyd fox]

Travelbeat news

Update: February 04, 2010 [1 Story] Singapore
Tiger Airways Inks Deal To Advance Deliveries

Tiger Airways Holdings has concluded another advance delivery agreement with Airbus, at the Singapore Air Show 2010.

Four Airbus A320 aircraft, originally scheduled to be delivered to Tiger Airways in 2016, will now be delivered in 2011.

These are in addition to the five aircraft that will be delivered later in 2010 and early 2011, ahead of their original delivery dates in 2016.

Currently, the Tiger fleet has 18 aircraft, with one more to be delivered in February 2010.

The fleet will increase by 74% to 33 aircraft over the next two financial years (April to March), with a total of fourteen aircraft deliveries.

Tony Davis, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tiger Airways, said ... “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.

"Today we welcomed our 12 millionth passenger, and we look forward to carrying our next million soon.”

[NickN]

If they can bring their OTP up to speed and get some decent terminal space in Melbourne they'll continue doing well.

It looks like some of the dramas which happen on their TV show aren't discouraging passengers from using them which is good. I flew with them late last year and found their service to be reasonable and uneventful, although the Melbourne terminal they use didn't really promote a customer service based image, it made you feel more like cattle being herded onto a truck.

[Stephen Brown]

I guess that means they'll be able to **** more people off quicker.

[Marty H]

NickN,

Whole MEL base is off to AVV

Fox lures Tiger to Avalon

* John Beveridge
* From: Herald Sun
* February 03, 2010 12:38PM

Fox lures Tiger to Avalon | Herald Sun

LINDSAY Fox will have a broader smile on his dial than usual after successfully wooing Tiger Airways down the Geelong Road to Linfox's Avalon Airport.

While the deal is still being kept under wraps, my usually reliable spy tells me it is set to be announced later this month, barring any last-minute problems.

Under the proposed deal, Tiger would start to hand back its terminal space at Melbourne Airport and progressively move all of its operations and flights to Avalon later this year.

The attraction for the recently floated Tiger is much lower flight costs -- the same reason fellow budget airline and Qantas offshoot Jetstar originally decided to base many of its flights out of Avalon.

With Jetstar now offering flights from both Avalon and Melbourne airports, Tiger has struggled to profitably compete on the main Melbourne/Sydney, Melbourne/Coolangatta and soon to launch Melbourne/Brisbane route against the combined juggernaut of Qantas/Jetstar and Virgin Blue.

With very frequent flights and the ability to compete strongly on price, the larger airlines have made it very tough for Tiger to continue with its aggressive growth plans and become a profitable airline in Australia.

While the move will help Tiger contain costs and expand its flight schedule, Linfox is the biggest winner because the move cements Avalon's position as effectively Melbourne's low-cost carrier airport.

Many other countries have successfully run low-cost carrier airports despite larger distances from city centres.

Passenger movements at Avalon could now rise dramatically from the current million a year to several times that, depending on Tiger's successful expansion.

While Tiger only operates seven A320 aircraft in Australia at the moment, most of the $200 million it raised in its recent float on the Singapore stock exchange is earmarked for an aggressive Australian fleet expansion.

Managing director Tony Davis hopes to expand Tiger's international fleet -- including Australia -- to 68 A320s by 2015.

A move to Avalon also allows Tiger to really push its "bargain fares" model to include cheaper airport parking, although the greater distance from Melbourne will be a sticking point for some travellers.

While Tiger has lost more than $70 million since launching in Australia in 2007, Davis has claimed that the airline is here for the long haul and is already cash-flow positive.

[lloyd fox]

I flew with Tiger MEL-OOL last year and found them very good.I went Jetstar down and Tiger back and found Tiger better.Tiger offered me the emergency exit row which i accepted.Cabin crew were quite friendly and the captain gave a good commentary during the flight.Flight was ontime and the fare was the cheapest of the 2.

[Mike W]

Originally Posted by lloyd fox

opportunities awaiting us in Asia and Australasia

Australasia? Am I missing something or are they going over to make JQ NZ look good as well?

[NickN]

Mike, have you flown Tiger at all?

Lloyd, the captains commentary on my flight was excellent too, which was unusual but a pleasant surprise. The cabin crew were also good on my flight as well and the trip was very smooth.

Can't say flying into Avalon interests me but if the flights continue to remain cheap then I'd give it a try.

[Steve S... 2]

It all sounds very promising... but will Tiger Airways be around in 2016??? In fact, would they be around (in Australia) in 2011... !

Will never fly them again after one flight was two hours late, then the next was cancelled and left stuck in Melbourne overnight.

If anyone does fly Tiger Airways, it is a very bad move if you book onto the last or second last flight for the day! You will be left homeless for a night when the flight is cancelled. And the odds of that happening are very high...

I am going to do my own research, and trace flights by timetable and see exactly how they perform.

[NickN]

Andrew, regardless of the loss they continue to expand which to me indicates they expect their growth to be beneficial.

If the losses were of concern I couldn't see them bringing forward deliveries.

[Raymond Rowe]

Read in the Melbourne herald sun yesterday that tiger are moving all operations to avalon.