Tiger Airways will discontinue two loss-making Australian routes in November

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SINGAPORE, Aug 25 — Singapore-listed Tiger Airways will discontinue two loss-making Australian routes in November, when the budget airline will start seven new routes from a new base at Avalon, near Melbourne, it said today.

 

The “underperforming” Adelaide-Brisbane and Adelaide-Gold Coast routes will cease operations from November 10, which the airline said was part of its “re-allocation of aircraft” plan.

 

“It’s a commercial reality that Tiger Airways will operate on routes that are most profitable,” Tiger Airways Australia Managing Director Crawford Rix said in a statement.

 

“Tiger Airways continuously reviews profitability of all routes in the network and will periodically make changes to ensure that our aircraft (assets) are deployed to ensure the best possible return.”

 

The seven new routes to and from Avalon are Adelaide, Gold Coast, Alice Springs, Mackay, Rockhampton, Perth and Sydney.

 

This month, Thai Airways International Plc announced plans to form a budget airline with Tiger to be called “Thai Tiger Airways”. The new airline had planned to acquire 10 new Airbus A320s in 2011 and 2012.

 

Last week, the Thai national carrier said plans for a budget airline alliance with Tiger would not be affected by news that two big Tiger shareholders and its chief executive sold discounted shares in the budget carrier.

 

Indigo Singapore Partners and Ryanasia, along with chief executive Tony Davis, sold 65.796 million Tiger shares at a discounted price of S$1.90 in a transaction worth about S$125 million (RM289 million).

 

Tiger Airways Group now operates a fleet of 19 Airbus A320 family aircraft and is committed to increasing the size of its fleet to 68 by December 2015.

 

By 0245 GMT, Tiger stock was down 1.05 percent at S$1.88 while the Singapore main index was flat at 2922.97. — Reuters