Tigerair Australia

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Tigerair Australia
Tigerair.svg
IATA ICAO Callsign
TT[1] TGW GO CAT
Commenced operations 2007 (as Tiger Airways Australia)
Operating bases
Alliance Value Alliance
Fleet size 14
Destinations 17
Parent company Virgin Australia Holdings
Headquarters Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Key people

John Borghetti (Chairman) [3]
Rob Sharp (CEO)[4]
Website tigerair.com.au

Tiger Airways Australia Pty Ltd, operating as Tigerair Australia, is an Australian low-cost airline. It commenced services in the Australian domestic airline market on 23 November 2007 as Tiger Airways Australia. It is a fully owned subsidiary of Virgin Australia Holdings.[5] The airline is based in Melbourne, Victoria, with its main base at Melbourne Airport. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia (CASA) grounded the airline in 2011; as a result operating bases at Adelaide and Avalon were shut down and it initially only operated out of its Melbourne base after returning to the air. On 7 March 2012, Tigerair announced the reopening of a second base at Sydney Airport.[6]

On 4 September 2012 Tigerair announced it was resuming flights from Melbourne to Adelaide, beginning from 1 November 2012.[7] On 18 December 2012 Tigerair Australia began direct return flights from Mackay to Melbourne and Mackay to Sydney.[8] On 22 October 2012 CASA announced it was issuing a new safety certificate and lifting all restrictions placed on Tigerair Australia, as it was now satisfied the restrictions were no longer needed.[9]

On 17 October 2014, Virgin Australia Holdings announced it would purchase the remaining 40% stake in the airline for A$1, taking full ownership.[10]

History

File:Tiger-airways-brand.svg
Former Tiger Airways Australia branding

Australian government policy and legislation currently permits airlines that are 100% foreign-owned to operate domestic airline services within the country.[11] The change in regulations originally applied only to New Zealand-owned airlines in 1996,[12] but were later relaxed, resulting in the establishment of Virgin Australia. Australian international airlines are still subject to ownership rules that limit foreign ownership to 49%.[13]

A Tigerair Australia Airbus A320 wearing the new colour scheme during a turnaround at Melbourne Airport in 2014

The Australian Foreign Investment Review Board gave approval for Tiger Airways to establish its wholly owned Australian subsidiary in March 2007 without any special conditions.[14] On 16 March 2007 Tiger Airways Australia Pty. Ltd. was incorporated in the Northern Territory,[15] although the company is based in Melbourne, with Melbourne Airport being the airline's major hub.[16]

Five aircraft and A$10 million were committed to start the subsidiary.[17] The airline's business model was based on that of sister airline Tiger Airways, which included attempting to increase the total market size (number of passengers), control operating costs, and maximise the number of sectors served.[18] One way it planned to keep costs low was by avoiding expensive airports.[19]

Tiger undertook the final stage of Australian regulatory procedures on 20 November 2007, successfully performing two proving flights from Melbourne to the Sunshine Coast and Launceston. Each carried officials from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) as well as Tiger crew. Tiger received its Air Operator's Certificate on 22 November. The airline projected initial traffic of 2 million passengers annually.[14]

Tiger Airways Australia's first scheduled flight was TT 7402, which departed from Melbourne for the Gold Coast on 23 November 2007.[20][21]

On 31 May 2008 the airline announced that passengers would be charged a fee for checked-in luggage. The fee was A$10 (for 15 kg of luggage) at booking or A$20 at check-in.[22]

Tiger announced on 3 April 2009 its intention to launch in the Melbourne–Sydney market, the fifth busiest passenger route in the world, signalling an end to its operational policy of avoiding expensive airports.[23] On 18 July, Tiger announced an increase in its Melbourne–Sydney flights by up to nine flights a day in each direction, and doubling the capacity on the Adelaide–Sydney Route. New aircraft were expected to arrive starting on 4 October 2009.[24] On 5 November 2009 Tiger Airways announced its intention to launch into the Brisbane market with services to Melbourne, Adelaide, and Rockhampton. Tiger celebrated these routes for A$2 during its Second Birthday sale, along with all Tasmanian routes and the popular Melbourne- Sydney route.

Tiger Australia announced in February 2010 that the airline was now profitable.[25]

Former MD Shelley Roberts departed on 1 June 2010. Her successor was Crawford Rix. "As far as I am concerned, on-time performance is going to be a big area that we will be focusing on," said Rix in a media interview.[26]

On 16 July 2010 Tiger Airways announced its intention to cease flying from Launceston Airport as of 2 August 2010. The Adelaide–Hobart route was also to be suspended. Communications manager Vanessa Regan said the cuts were due to seasonal demand.[27]

On 16 September 2010 Tiger commenced services to Cairns, operating a late night daily service from its Tullamarine base.[28]

On 21 October 2010 Tiger announced that it was adding two Airbus A320 aircraft to the Melbourne base in the new year, bringing its Victorian fleet to a total of ten aircraft, in line with a deal struck with the State government.[29]

Tiger announced on 25 October 2010 its intention of completing the 'golden triangle' by expanding onto the busy Sydney–Brisbane route, offering double daily frequencies.[30]

On 7 March 2012, Tiger Airways announced that it would reopen a second base at Sydney Airport[6]

On 4 September 2012 Tiger announced it was resuming flights from Melbourne to Adelaide, beginning from 1 November 2012.[7]

In October 2012, Virgin Australia Holdings announced its intention to purchase 60% of Tiger Airways Australia. The deal was completed in July 2013, after the airline had changed it name to Tigerair Australia.[31]

On 18 December 2012 Tiger began direct return flights from Mackay to Melbourne and Sydney.[8] On 6 February 2013 Tiger Airways Australia announced it would resume services between Melbourne and Sunshine Coast/Alice Springs, and begin services between Sydney and Cairns/Alice Springs.[32] Just over a week later, Tiger Airways Australia began its first intrastate route, from Sydney to Coffs Harbour.[33]

In July 2013, Tiger Airways Australia changed its name to Tigerair Australia.

On 17 October 2014, Virgin Australia Holdings announced plans to acquire the 40% stake held by Tiger Airways Holdings for $1. Virgin would retain the Tigerair name and acquire the brand rights for Tigerair to operate to some international destinations from Australia.[5][34]

On 7 August 2015, it was announced that Tigerair Australia would begin operating its first ever international services to Denpasar from Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, beginning from 23 March 2016.[35]

On August 18 2015, Tigerair moved into the newly opened Terminal 4 at Melbourne Airport, which features new technology automated check-in kiosks and bag drop facilities, as well as an expanded departure lounge and more shopping and food choices.[36]

On 27 August 2015, Tigerair Australia announced three weekly return services between Melbourne and Coffs Harbour.[37]

On 2 March 2016, the airline announced an additional weekly return service between the two locations.[38]

On October 22 2015, Tigerair revealed a new look for the airline, featuring new uniforms, website, booking system and an improved check-in experience.[39]

Competitors' reactions

A Tiger Airways Australia Airbus A320 at Melbourne Airport, Australia. (2007)
Interior of a Tiger Airways Australia Airbus A320 (2008)
A Tiger Airways Australia Airbus A320 fuselage showing the writing (2009)

The arrival of Tiger Airways Australia in the market resulted in varied responses from its primary competitors, mainly Qantas (and its subsidiary Jetstar Airways) and Virgin Australia. Jetstar was particularly vocal, with its then chief executive Alan Joyce quoted as saying "Tiger and what they have done have come across as a joke, and will probably continue that way".[40] He claimed that Tiger was losing over SGD$60 million over the previous two years of operations out of Singapore.[41]

Air fares began to drop as special offers and other promotions were launched, such as Jetstar's announcement that it would "double the difference of any competitor's fare that is cheaper than its own fares".[42] This was soon followed by a bonus system to entice its customers to stay with the airline.[43] Jetstar immediately matched Tiger's Melbourne to Darwin fare upon its announcement.

Tiger Airways Australia had previously been quoted as planning to offer "single digit" one-way fares when it began service. The announcement of A$79.99 flights from Melbourne to Darwin was met with criticism from Jetstar.[44]

When Tiger released its first route—Melbourne to Darwin—at a price of A$79.99, Jetstar immediately undercut the price, offering fares of A$79 on the same route over the same period. When Tiger released its second route—Melbourne to Gold Coast—at a price of A$49.95, Jetstar again undercut the price, offering A$39 fares on the route over the same period. In response to Tiger's announcement of Melbourne to Launceston flights for A$39.95, Jetstar offered A$29 flights over the same period, except for a holiday blackout.

Interior of Tigerair Australia Boeing 737-800 (2016). The type is operated for the airline by Virgin Australia

Virgin Australia considered the possibility of establishing a low-cost offshoot to fend off Tiger Airways,[45] but decided to focus on its new trans-Pacific carrier, V Australia, and on increasing its business travel share by introducing a Premium Economy service.

In a bid to increase its share of low-cost traffic, Melbourne Airport announced plans to cut usage fees soon after Tiger's announcement of establishing a hub there.[46] Tiger's mention of New Zealand as a potential market raised concerns in that country.[47]

Just days before the launch of Tiger Airways Australia, Jetstar offered 5,000 seats on 21 November 2007 for the price of five cents, inclusive of taxes, on seven domestic routes, costing the airline $25.00 per seat. Jetstar claimed that the sale has nothing to do with the Tiger launch, while at the same time referring to them as "competitive". Jetstar's spokesman, Simon Westaway, was quoted as saying that Tiger Airways "are a good airline in their own right. We are not going head to head. We respect them for the competitor that they are going to be".[48]

On 23 November 2007, Tiger Airways criticised Qantas for being unable to provide ground handling services to the airline at Alice Springs Airport, forcing it to delay its launch to the city by three months to 1 March 2008. The airline had promised to pay any cost to Qantas, but services were still denied. Qantas executive general manager John Borghetti responded by saying "assisting competitors is not part of my job description".[49] Tiger Airways Australia CEO Tony Davis reminded Qantas that Tiger's parent, Singapore Airlines, provides ground servicing at Singapore Changi Airport for both Qantas and Jetstar, and it wasn't unreasonable for Qantas to provide Tiger the ground staff at Alice Springs.

Tiger commenced service to Adelaide from Melbourne on 10 January 2008. Fares of $9.95 one-way between Melbourne and Adelaide were offered a few days prior to the launch.

Tiger Airways Australia celebrated its first anniversary on 19 November 2008 with a "Free Seats" campaign, which resulted in 100,000 seats on sale, of which half sold out within the first few hours.[50] The airline celebrated its second birthday on 23 November 2009 with thousands of seats on sale for A$2.

Company affairs and identity

Ownership

Tiger Airways Australia is a wholly owned subsidiary of Virgin Australia Holdings.

On 30 October 2012, Virgin Australia announced it was proposing to purchase a 60% stake in Tigerair Australia for $35 million. Tigerair and Virgin said they would spend up to $62.5 million on Tiger Australia to increase its fleet from 11 aircraft to 35 by 2018. [51] Tiger would continue to operate as a low cost subsidiary of Virgin Australia for 20 years.

On 23 April 2013, the ACCC announce that it would not oppose the merger. ACCC chairman Rod Sims said that Tigerair would be "highly unlikely to remain in the local market if the proposed acquisition didn't proceed".[52]

On 17 October 2014, Virgin Australia purchased the remaining 40% of Tigerair Australia owned by Singapore Airlines. This made Virgin Australia the sole owner of Tigerair Australia.[5]

As of October 2015, Virgin Australia took full ownership of Tigerair Australia, taking over from Tigerair Singapore, meaning all operations are now done locally in Australia.

Performance

The latest airline statistics for the 2012-2013 year show that of the major Australian domestic airlines (Qantas, Jetstar, Virgin Australia, Tigerair), Tigerair achieved the second lowest level of on time departures for 2012-13 at 79.6%, a significant drop from 2011-2012 figure of 89.5%, but ahead of Jetstar at 75.6%. This result was also reflected in arrival performance, where Tigerair achieved an on-time arrival rate of 76.3%, ahead of Jetstar at 76.1%. In the same period for the major domestic airlines, Tigerair had the lowest cancellation rate for the 2012-2013 year, at 1.2% of flights cancelled.[53][54]


The latest airline statistics for 2015 revealed that 84.1% of Tigerair Australia services departed on time in 2015, a record for the airline over the course of a year. In comparison, Tigerair’s main competitor departed on schedule 76.2% of the time on like-for-like routes. On like-for-like routes, Tigerair Australia was also three times more reliable than its key competitor when it came to cancellations in 2015. Tigerair Australia cancelled 0.9% of flights in 2015, compared to 2.9% for the key competitor on the same routes. Tigerair Australia recorded the airline’s best ever on time departure stats in February 2016, with 93.3% of services departing on time.[55]


2011 warnings and suspension

On 11 February, erroneous data was suspected to have been put into a flight computer.[56]

On 3 March, a traffic collision avoidance system alarm was triggered after one of Tigerair's A320s flew too close to a smaller aircraft.[56] Following this, Tigerair was issued with a "show-cause" notice for pilot training and maintenance. Spokeswoman Vanessa Regan told news media that "There is no cause for concern.[57] CASA [the Civil Aviation Safety Authority] has taken no action. We continue to operate and we want to reassure our customers that there is no risk to safety and we continue as normal".[58]

On 20 April, another Tigerair aircraft flew below the published minimum altitude near Melbourne Airport.[59]

On 7 June, another Tigerair aircraft again descended below the minimum altitude near Avalon Airport.

On 1 July, a further Tigerair A320 from Brisbane to Melbourne flew too close to a Boeing 767.[56]

On 2 July, Tigerair Australia was suspended from flying by CASA due to "various" safety concerns.[60][61][62] The grounding coincided with school holidays in New South Wales and Victoria. News agencies estimated that 35,000 people may have been affected.[63] It is estimated that Tigerair would lose A$4.2 million for every week of suspension.[56]

Special conditions were imposed on its Air Operator Certificate giving Tigerair 60 days from mid June to complete instrument rating renewals. This direction was extended to all of its pilots.

A spokesperson for CASA, Peter Gibson, told the media that "Tigerair has not been able to, at this stage, convince us that they can continue operations safely, so that's why they're on the ground". Citing a view that future problems would also occur, he also commented that "We [CASA] believe this is symptomatic of problems within the airline [and] we've put them on the ground while we consider all these issues".[64]

Tigerair stated that it was co-operating fully with CASA.[57]

On 6 July, CASA announced that it would lodge a request for extension to the suspension until 1 August at the Federal Court in Melbourne, while CASA continued to investigate, after the investigation raised more questions into Tiger Airways Australia, and until CASA was satisfied that the airline "no longer poses a serious and imminent risk to air safety".[65][66] Consumer regulators, such as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), warned Tigerair Australia that the airline needed to inform customers who purchased tickets about the uncertainty as to whether the airline would be flying from 9 July.[66] Tigerair Australia suspended its ticket sales on 5 July, however the ACCC's chairman, Graeme Samuel, stated that Tigerair Australia's "lack of response until that point was far from satisfactory".[66]

After five weeks CASA lifted the ban and Tigerair Australia recommenced operations on 12 August, but only for 18 flights a day between Melbourne and Sydney. Tigerair announced it was suspending operations from Avalon Airport and would close its Adelaide base altogether in a "commercially motivated" decision. It also said that it would reduce its fleet to eight aircraft.[67][68][69]

On 22 October 2012 CASA announced it was issuing a new safety certificate and lifting all restrictions placed on Tigerair Australia, as it was now satisfied the restrictions were no longer needed.[9]

Television series

The Air Ways TV series created by the Seven Network followed the day-to-day operations of the airline.[70] It had a similar premise to the successful UK factual television series Airline. The series, while not always portraying Tigerair in a positive light, did much to promote the airline. The TV programme was then axed in 2012 due to low ratings.

Destinations

A Tiger Airways Australia Airbus A320 at Adelaide Airport, Australia. (2010)

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Main article: Tigerair Australia destinations

Expansion of bases

On 7 March 2012, Tigerair Australia announced the reopening of a second base, at Sydney Airport.[6] On 4 September 2012 Tigerair Australia announced it was resuming flights from Melbourne to Adelaide, beginning from 1 November 2012.[7] On 18 December 2012 Tigerair Australia began direct return flights from Mackay to Melbourne and Mackay to Sydney.[8]

International services

Tigerair's first Boeing 737-800 wet-leased from and operated by Virgin Australia, to be used on Bali flights from Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth.

Tigerair Australia expanded into short-haul international flights when Virgin Australia transferred some of its services between Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth and Denpasar the Indonesian island of Bali to Tigerair from 23 March 2016. These services use three Boeing 737-800 aircraft, wet-leased from–and operated by–Virgin Australia, with Tigerair providing the flight attendants.[71]

On 16 May 2016, Tigerair Australia joined Value Alliance, the world’s largest low cost carrier alliance.[4] The new alliance,was started alongside with Philippines' Cebu Pacific, South Korea's Jeju Air, Thailand's Nok Air and NokScoot, Tigerair Singapore, Tigerair Australia and Japan's Vanilla Air.

Fleet

As of April 2016, the Tigerair Australia fleet consists of the following aircraft:[72]

Tigerair Australia Fleet
Aircraft In Service Passengers Notes
Airbus A320-200
14
180
 —
Total 14

Three Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800s are also operated under the Tigerair Australia brand.[71]

Onboard services

The airline provides the free Tiger Tales inflight magazine and a buy on board programme serving snacks, soft drinks, beer and wine for purchase.[73] In June 2010, Tigerair implemented a "cashless cabin" environment, in that it only accepted Visa or MasterCard for onboard purchases. This new method was later dropped.

Satisfaction

In the Roy Morgan Single Source quarterly sample of 1896 Australians, Tigerair Australia has staged a dramatic turnaround in customer satisfaction levels. Customer satisfaction with Tigerair Australia rebounded from below 40% in June 2012 to 64.6% in September 2012, representing a dramatic turnaround for the airline, according to Roy Morgan Research. Its satisfaction levels now sit just below low-cost carrier competitor Jetstar which boasts 65.7% satisfaction among customers.[74]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Evan, By. (2013-07-08) Tiger air becomes part of Virgin. News.com.au. Retrieved on 2013-07-16.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  32. ↑ http://www.tigerairways.com/news/TT_20130206_20130206.pdf
  33. ↑ http://www.tigerairways.com/news/TT_20121126_20121125.pdf
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  53. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  54. ↑ Australian Government Department of Infrastructure and Transport, http://www.bitre.gov.au/statistics/aviation/otp_annual.aspx "Airline On Time Performance 2012-2013 Financial Year Report", Canberra, 1 June 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2013
  55. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  56. ↑ 56.0 56.1 56.2 56.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  60. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  61. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  62. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  63. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  66. ↑ 66.0 66.1 66.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  68. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  69. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  70. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  71. ↑ 71.0 71.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  72. ↑ Australian civil aircraft register search, using "Tiger Airways" as the search parameter. Search conducted 11 April 2016
  73. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  74. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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