Tiger Airways suspends all Darwin flights

[Ryan N]

Tiger Airways suspends all Darwin flights
From: Northern Territory News
February 16, 2011 8:18AM

TIGER Airways has pulled out of Darwin again - this time for good.

The budget airline returned to Darwin last June - with a taxpayer funded subsidy - promising to be here for the "long haul".

But Tiger Airways spokeswoman Vanessa Regan told the NT News flights will be suspended indefinitely due to lack of demand and seasonability.

"We had a recent review of the network, as all airlines do, and it showed we haven't got the right level of demand," she said.

The NT News reported in November that the Darwin-Melbourne flights would be cancelled for seven weeks between February and March due to poor demand. The flights were expected to resume between the peak season of March 31 and October 31.

But the budget airline has now cancelled all flights and passengers have been issued with a refund. Less than a year ago, the Territory Government paid a subsidy to lure the airline back. Tourism Minister Malarndirri McCarthy's spokeswoman Ursula Raymond said the agreement still applied because Tiger Airways still flies to the Territory.
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"It only applies to flights that operate out of Alice Springs," she said.

Ms Raymond refused to give details of the deal. Ms Regan said an additional flight will operate between the Central Australian town and Melbourne, pumping the number of services to four a week.

"There is the possibility of having international connectivity through Darwin," she said.

She said if the airline was granted government approval to fly internationally, it could use Darwin to connect with Asia.

"We would fly via Darwin to places like Bali," she said. "That's one solution."

But she said the airline could be back in a "heart beat."

"It is sad news for Darwin though," she said.

Tiger Airways first arrived in Australia in 2005 with a Singapore-Darwin flight. The budget airline then launched a daily Darwin to Melbourne service in November 2007 but announced it was pulling out of the Top End the following August. When Tiger returned last June, it promised to stay for "the long haul".