Tiger Airways sees more opportunities for growth
Tiger Airways grew passenger numbers by 7.6% and added 11.4% more capacity in Q4 versus last year. 3 additional new aircraft delivered taking the group fleet to 16 A320 family aircraft with 56 new aircraft still to be delivered. Competitor capacity cuts and further liberalisation of Asean skies creating exciting opportunities for further growth of Tiger Airways in Asia and Australia. Tiger Airways looks towards accelerated deliveries of additional aircraft over next three years. Thursday 21 May 2009 Tiger Airways operations in both Asia and Australia have seen significant growth in passengers, aircraft and routes in Quarter 4 that ended on 31 March 2009.
Key highlights for Quarter 4 included:
- Capacity rose by 11.4% in Q4 with the delivery of two A319s and one A320 taking the group fleet to 16 Aircraft located at three operating bases (10 aircraft in Singapore, 4 aircraft in Melbourne and 2 aircraft in Adelaide)
- New routes launched in Q4 include Singapore – Jakarta and Singapore – Kota Kinabalu and 5 new domestic Australian routes which were launched as a new base became operational in Adelaide, South Australia.
- Passenger numbers increased by 7.6 % in Q4 09 compared with Q4 08
- Average sector length decreased by 12.2% versus same period as last year with additional access to short haul destinations in Malaysia
- Load factor year-on-year performance was down slightly by 2.7 points following significant increase in capacity
- Full year passenger growth for the year was 42.4% at 3.2 million passengers.
Tony Davis, Group CEO and President of Tiger Aviation said
“Tiger Airways is delighted to be bucking the industry trend being repeated by legacy airlines around the world of doom and gloom. Not only have we seen strong consumer demand for our existing seat capacity and network, our low fare business model has meant that we have been able to continue to increase our fleet and network as other airlines park planes and cut capacity.”
Davis continued
“In these uncertain times Tiger Airways is reaping the benefits of building a solid and sustainable platform for its business in Asia and Australia. As a result I am delighted that Tiger Airways is in an enviable position of being able to continue to grow the number of aircraft that we operate, the network of destinations that we serve and we continue to grow our passenger numbers. Our analysis suggests that consumer demand for low fare air services, such as those offered by Tiger Airways, remains strong and when combined with the recent significant drop in oil prices presents opportunities for continued strong growth in capacity throughout 2009/10.”
Both Tiger Airways Singapore and Tiger Airways Australia are well positioned for growth. The diversity of the group network is ensuring that we can adapt our network to react to competitor capacity cuts, at the same time as responding to economic recovery in some of the world’s key development markets of India, China, South East Asia and Australia.
In relation to Tiger Airways Singapore, we have been encouraged by the pace of liberalisation in the ASEAN region including the opening up of more routes between Singapore and Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. We remain hopeful that further liberalisation will occur between ASEAN countries as the benefits of additional affordable air services to both the tourism sector and wider economy are embrassed around the region.
Since commencing operations in November 2007, Tiger Airways Australia has continued to grow its presence across Australia. With the delivery of 2 additional aircraft the airline has set up its second base in Adelaide, South Australia and expanded its network to 16 routes.
Tony Davis said
“Tiger Airways Australia started with a purr in Australia and is now beginning to roar. With 16 routes operational and incumbent airlines reducing capacity, Tiger Airways Australia is in a strong position for continued expansion and passenger growth. On top of recently opening a second base in Adelaide after just over a year of operations, Tiger Airways Australia has announced that it will begin services on one of the world’s busiest air routes between Melbourne and Sydney, a route that presently has only two airlines operating on it. It is a route which is crying out for real low fare competition.”
Tiger Airways is now actively looking to accelerate aircraft deliveries over the next three years in order to maintain a strong capacity growth rate in both its Singapore hub and Australia. The compounded annual growth rate for the Tiger Airways group since 1 April 2005 now stands at 56%.
Tatiana Rokou
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Friday, May 22, 2009