Tiger’s out-of-the-air period for Australian domestic flights continues to expand. The earliest date it will now hit the air is Friday August 5, and even that seems far from certain.
Flights on Tiger were already suspended through July, and it has offered refunds to anyone flying in August. It will now automatically refund fares for anyone booked for between August 1 and 4 who hadn’t already asked for a refund (though anecdotes suggest that those refunds can be rather slow to appear).
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has presented Tiger with a list of conditions it must meet to be allowed to resume flights, and both CASA and Tiger seem confident that they can settle those issues without requiring court action. Nonetheless, the future of the budget airline seems anything but clear.
We’ve already seen reports that Tiger will pull out of Avalon, and there’s now speculation that Tiger will cut back on the routes it flies locally when it is finally allowed to fly again. Given the brand damage the closure has caused and the fact that there are plenty of other ways to score cheap flights, I’ll personally be surprised if Tiger is still operating in Australia by the end of the year. What do you think?
Guy
Monday, August 1, 2011 at 10:07 AMI know someone who booked tickets with Tiger for Friday, 5th Aug. They got a confirmation email reminding them of the flights on Friday. Tiger back online?
Vron
Monday, August 1, 2011 at 11:19 AMOptions:
#1 Fly from Perth to Asia and Sell Domestic excess aircrafts to Virgin, Jetstart, etc…
#2 Sell the Tiger Co. as a Whole to Virgin, Qantas, etc…
#3 Have an East West Config, Brisbane/Gold Coast or/and Perth to Asia.
If they do close shop a LOT more Money will need to be shed…
Anthony
Monday, August 1, 2011 at 12:01 PMThe biggest argument for staying is the lease agreements they’ve signed on the aircraft don’t allow them to be easily relocated overseas, and have steep break fees.
Equally, with Virgin moving further upmarket the competition in the low cost market is down to just Jetstar (who are a fairly formidable opponent, but one is better than two).
Having said all that, they’re losing money, they’ve been shut down for a month and maybe walking away is the best thing for them. I hope they don’t, because there is no doubt Tiger have driven fares from all carriers lower
Christopher Fox
Monday, August 1, 2011 at 7:34 PMThey better be back flying to Brisbane by OCT. There is no were in Australia I will be able to get $88 return tickets Melbourne – Brisbane with 15kg checking return for $88! If they shut up shop, I know a lot of people who will no longer fly.
Ken Guest
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 6:52 PMI feel CASA have a lot to answer for as they waited nearly the whole of July without giving Tiger their requirments for getting back in Australian skies. What took CASA so long. Back when they grounded Tigerat the end of June is when they should have given Tiger those requirments to rectify, not at the last minute. Australia badly needs an Airline such as Tiger to keep the existing Airlines from holding the Australian public to ransom with inflated prices for Airfares.
Angus Kidman
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 6:57 PMCASA were conducting an investigation though — it’s not the kind of list that can be produced overnight. (Also, the closure deadline was extended by agreement with Tiger, on two separate occasions.)