Tiger Airways
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Tiger Airways | ||
|---|---|---|
| IATA TR |
ICAO TGW |
Callsign Stripe |
| Founded | 2003 | |
| Hubs | Singapore Changi Airport | |
| Focus cities | Diosdado Macapagal International Airport | |
| Fleet size | 9 | |
| Destinations | 16 | |
| Parent company | Singapore Airlines - 49% | |
| Headquarters | Singapore | |
| Key people | Tony Davis (CEO) | |
| Website: http://www.tigerairways.com | ||
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Tiger Airways Private Limited is a low-cost airline based in Singapore, with its primary hub at Singapore Changi Airport. Incorporated in September 2003, it is currently the largest low-cost airline operating out of Singapore in terms of passengers carried. In 2006, the airline flew 1.2 million passengers, a growth of 75% from the previous year.[1]
The airline was the first to operate from the Budget Terminal in Changi Airport to capitalise on cost savings[citation needed], and its cost structure is modelled after Ryanair. Despite regional competition, the airline has reiterated its current intention to remain focused on flying within a five-hour radius from its Singaporean base.[2] To overcome regulatory hurdles in the region, the airline attempts to buy into regional carriers to expand into a pan-Asian carrier.[3] It will enter a commercial and operational tie-up with South East Asian Airlines from February 2007 and establish a presence in the Philippines. Plans to fly into India and Malaysia are in the airline's expansion plans from 2007.[4] The airline plans to study the possibility of its Initial Public Offering by the end of 2007.[5]
[edit] History
The airline was incorporated on 12 December 2003 and launched sales on August 31, 2004. The airline flew into a period of relative difficulty for the aviation industry with rising oil prices and intense competition from other airlines. The airline held off imposing fuel surchages as its competitors have done.
With Singapore Airlines having a stake in the airline, it is noted that the airline occasionally fills in the gap when SIA drops its services from certain destinations. Macau, once served by SIA before being taken up by its subsidiary SilkAir in 2002, terminated all flights completely by the end of 2004. Three months later, the route was taken over by Tiger Airways with flights commencing 25 March 2005. A similar pattern can be observed in Krabi, where SilkAir suspended services in February 2005 in the wake of the effects of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Tiger Airways resumed direct services to the location from 7 October 2005.
In late July 2005, it was announced that the airline would commence flights from Macau to Manila (Clark) on October 30, 2005, a much heralded move as it may signal the establishment of a secondary base besides Singapore, allowing the airline to expand and diversify risks. On 21 September 2005, the company produced a report card on its first year of operations, with a total of over 500,000 passengers carried, 5000 scheduled flights flown, and a flight completion rate of 98.7%. 94% of flight departures and 90% of arrivals took place according to schedule. It acquired four aircraft and launched a total of nine routes (of which four are flown exclusively by the airline) during the year.
The airline expects to increase its fleet to nine Airbus A320 aircraft by end 2006, and to carry up to 3 million passengers a year by then. It also hopes to add six more routes during the year, mostly to destinations in China and India,[6] with flights to Southern China having commenced April. The airline also announced its switch from Singapore Airport Terminal Services to Swissport for ground handling when it becomes the first airline to operate at the newly-opened Budget Terminal in Changi Airport on 26 March 2006.
Tiger Airways became the first Singaporean low-cost carrier to receive operating permits from the Chinese aviation authorities to fly to the southern Chinese cities of Haikou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in an announcement on 21 February 2006. Ticket sales to these destinations commenced on 24 February 2006, with the first flight to Shenzhen taking place on 15 April, to Haikou from 26 April and to Guangzhou from 27 April 2006. The airline has since indicated that the routes were highly popular, with increased flights to Haikou and Guangzhou less than three months since their launch.[7]
In June 2006, flights to Danang were suspended. On 20 July 2006, the media reported on the airline's intentions to increase its routes from 15 to 20 and to establish a second base city by the end of the year. Possible growth regions include China, Southern India, Cambodia and Brunei.[8] The airline's plans for a possible initial public offering was also revealed. At the same time, it announced that it saw an increase of 81% in passengers carried in the months of April to June since its move to the Budget Terminal in March, compared to the same period in the previous year.
Long-term uncertainties over the airline's routing to Macau via Diosdado Macapagal International Airport was partly resolved when a five-year permit was awarded to the airline in September 2006.[9]
On 29 September 2006, a deal was announced in which Tiger Airways will enter a commercial and operational tie-up with South East Asian Airlines from February 2007, involving the leasing of two planes in Tiger Airways colours to Seair and operated on the later's routes from Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (Clark) to Singapore, Cebu, Davao, and Macau. Tiger Airways will give up one flight per day on the Clark-Singapore route and all flights between Macau and Clark to Seair. In return, all four flights operated using Tiger Airways' planes but with Seair's pilots and crew will be marketed via its website. The deal does not include shareholding transactions.[10]
On January 12, 2007, it was announced that the airline would commence services to Perth Airport on March 23, 2007. Commencement of services on this route is currently pending regulatory approval.[11] On 8 February 2007, news broke that the airline may be considering a tie-up with Perth-based Skywest Airlines,[12] although the airline denied this.[13] Still, there are indications that the airline may expand its Australian services, including the east coast.[14] On 9 February 2007, Tiger Airways formally announced that it hoped to become Australia's third full scale domestic airline, competing directly with Virgin Blue and Qantas/Jetstar.[15] Tiger Airways Australia will use their Australian domestic network to support an expanded international presence with the current gateways of Darwin and Perth, expanded to include Melbourne and Brisbane. On 16 March 2007, the airline received approval from Australian aithorities to establish the new subsidiary[16], and established Tiger Airways Australia Pty Ltd on the same day.[17]
[edit] Shareholders
Its founding shareholders are: Singapore Airlines Limited (49%); Indigo Partners LLC, the investment firm founded by Bill Franke, (24%); Irelandia Investments Limited, the private investment arm of Tony Ryan and his family (founders of European no-frills carrier Ryanair), (16%); and Singapore's investment agency Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd (11%).
[edit] Fleet
The airline operates a single-model fleet comprising of the Airbus A320-200 aircraft powered by V2500 International Aero Engines. All aircraft offer single-class economy seating for 180 seats each.
The first aircraft order comprised of four aircraft, commencing operations with two aircraft before the remaining four were delivered in January 2005.[18] A second order for an additional eight to be delivered between March 2006 and 2007[19] was made in June 2005, with the Royal Bank of Scotland helped finance the four of the aircraft in the second order, worth a total of about US$500 million.[20]
There are currently 9 aircraft in its fleet after the latest delivery of two aircraft in April 2006,[21] a third on 11 October 2006, a fourth aircraft 9V-TAH on 23 November 2006, and a fifth aircraft 9V-TAI on 14 December 2006. In July 2006, the airline announced its first sale-and-leaseback agreement with GATX Air for two aircraft due for delivery in October 2006 and November 2007 respectively. It also announced its intentions to exercise its options for eight additional aircraft for a total of 20 planes.[22]
On 17 October 2006, the airline confirmed its purchase options for another eight aircraft to be delivered between 2008 and 2010 in a deal worth S$780 million. The purchase was expected to help the airline enter its next expansion phase.[23] On 4 January 2007, Tiger announced that it had secured a US$100 million pre-delivery deposits facility from the French bank, BNP Paribas to finance this purchase.
Current fleet by aircraft size (as of February, 2007)
| Aircraft | # | Seats | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A320-200 | 9 (11 on order) | 180 (Y180) | Short haul |
[edit] Services
Tiger Airways currently flies to destinations within an approximate five-hour radius around Singapore to 17 destinations in six countries around the region. Thailand is its first and biggest market, with six cities served, taking advantage of the open-skies agreement between Singapore and Thailand. Current aviation agreements has prevented the airline from flying to neighbouring Malaysia, although in September 2006, it was granted righted to fly to Kuching, Miri and Sibu in a bid to boost tourism in Sarawak.[24] It is poised to begin flights to multiple destinations in South Asia, where it already has the right to fly to Kolkata.[25]
Future plans include:
- Increase the number of planes to 20 by 2010
- Singapore-Brunei, Singapore-Cambodia, Singapore-Kuching, Singapore-Sibu, Singapore-Miri, Singapore-KL
- All flights from Angeles City to Macau, one daily flight to Singapore, and all new flights to Cebu and Davao will be operated by South East Asian Airlines but using Tiger Airways colours from February 2007. However, this plan was never materialised. Furthermore, due to policy uncertainty in Philippines, Tiger Airways is cutting flight frequency to Clark instead starting from 25th March 2007.
- Tiger Airways plans to deliver domestic Australian routes, competing with QANTAS, Jetstar, Virgin Blue and other regional airliners.
[edit] Flight Numbers
[edit] References
- ^ "Tiger Airways sees 75% jump in number of passengers", Channel NewsAsia, 19 January 2007.
- ^ "Budget carrier Tiger Airways to launch service to Perth", Channel NewsAsia, 12 January 2007.
- ^ "Tiger Airways looks to retailing for business model", Aviation Week.
- ^ "2006 continued to be a turbulent year for budget airlines", Channel NewsAsia, 4 January 2007.
- ^ "Tiger Airways ready for IPO by end 2007", Channel NewsAsia, 23 January 2007.
- ^ "Tiger Airways picks Swissport as new ground handler", Channel NewsAsia, 18 January 2007.
- ^ Tiger Airways offers more flights to "hot" destinations, Tiger Airways Press Release, June 13 2006
- ^ "Tiger Airways set to expand to more bases before year-end", Channel NewsAsia, 20 July 2006.
- ^ "Singapore's Tiger Airways gets 5-year permit to fly to Philippines", Channel NewsAsia, 6 September 2006.
- ^ "Tiger Airways in tie-up with SEAir Philippines", Channel NewsAsia, 29 September 2006.
- ^ Top Low-Cost Airline Tiger Airways to Make Perth Its Next Destination, Westralia Airports Corporation, January 12, 2007
- ^ "Jetstar grows to tackle a Tiger", The Australian, 8 February 2007.
- ^ "Tiger to take on Jetstar", The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 February 2007.
- ^ "Qantas improving", Herald Sun, 8 February 2007.
- ^ "Singapore's Tiger Airways to pounce on Australian domestic market", Channel NewsAsia, 9 February 2007.
- ^ "Growing Tiger gets its stripes", The Australian, 16 March 2007.
- ^ "Tiger Airways sets up Aussie subsidiary", The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 March 2007.
- ^ Even More Tiger Airways Flights to Bangkok, Tiger Airways Press Release, January 6 2005
- ^ Tiger Airways to Triple Its Fleet, Tiger Airways Press Release, June 29 2005
- ^ Tiger Airways secures funding for first four new aircraft, Tiger Airways Press Release, October 6 2005
- ^ Tiger Airways expansion plans supported by new aircraft deliveries and strong financial base, Tiger Airways Press Release, April 4 2006
- ^ Tiger Airways and GATX in sale/leaseback agreement for two Airbus A320 aircraft, Tiger Airways Press Release, July 2 2006
- ^ "Tiger Airways buys 8 new Airbus to increase fleet to 20 by 2010", Channel NewsAsia, 17 October 2006.
- ^ "Tiger Airways to fly to M'sian cities on Borneo Island", The Business Times, 11 September 2006.
- ^ "Singapore Tiger Airways to fly to Sri Lanka", ColomboPage, 2 November 2006.
[edit] External links
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Jetstar Asia Airways • Orange Star • SilkAir • Singapore Airlines • Singapore Airlines Cargo • Tiger Airways • Valuair |
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