Tiger Airways Australia to Open Sydney Base

Tiger Airways Australia is to boost its domestic operations with the launch of a second base at Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport from early July 2012 as it grows its network to the levels it formerly offered prior to its short-term closure last year by safety authorities. The airline was grounded between July and August last year by the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) and has faced an enforced operational cap since it returned to the sky which has meant around a third of its fleet has remained on the ground.

With a relaxation of the terms of this operational cap over the coming months, the three Airbus A320s currently parked will be used to progressively open the new base in Sydney launching flights from July 1, 2012. The airline already offers nine flights per day to/from Sydney but between July and September will introduce up to ten additional daily flights providing up to 3,600 extra seats per day from the city.

“This is a win-win for both consumers wanting more low fares as well as for domestic tourism,” said Andrew David, Chief Executive Officer, Tiger Airways Australia. “The business goal was to have all ten aircraft operating in Australia by second half of 2012 and this news proves we’re on track. An eleventh aircraft will be deployed to Australia by August 2012 and further network developments will be announced in due course.”

The first aircraft will enter service from July 1 to introduce a daily flight between Sydney and Gold Coast and to increase the frequency of flights to Melbourne from seven to nine return services per day. The arrival of the second based aircraft will enable the Gold Coast route to grow to up to three flights per day and a twice daily service to be introduced from Sydney to Brisbane, while the third will enter service from September 1 at which time frequencies on the Brisbane and Gold Coast routes will both increase to four rotations per day.

The table below highlights the current flight options on these three routes and strong competition that Tiger Airways Australia will face. On the Brisbane route there are already 52,000 seats per week in each direction; Gold Coast sees almost 27,000 weekly seats and Melbourne just under 100,000 of which Tiger Airways Australia currently accounts for just over seven per cent of the total.