Tiger Airways to take on the Kiwis?

The Sydney Morning Herald’s Business Days says that Tiger Airways is sure to be keeping rival airline executives across the region looking over their shoulders for sometime yet after placing an order for 50 jets last week.

And it is not just Qantas-Jetstar and Virgin Blue which will be clutching worry beads, with Tiger Chief Executive Tony Davis mentioning the word New Zealand last Friday, raising concerns Air New Zealand’s recent honeymoon could be over.

Air NZ has carefully pared back excess capacity in recent months across the Tasman and merged its A320 operations with that of its low-cost subsidiary, Freedom Air.

It appears Air NZ and Qantas are for the first time in years even realising good profits on the trans-Tasman route and one hint of this could be that they have not whinged about Emirates operating on the route for a few months.

But all of that could be scuttled if Tiger not only enters the trans-Tasman market but establishes a domestic service in New Zealand, something Virgin Blue has been hinting it could do for years.

Aside from Australasia, speculation is rife that Tiger will also soon announce a new franchise in the Philippines in the next few weeks.

Air NZ’s shares were steady yesterday at $2.62. They have nearly tripled since last August.

Report by The Mole and The Sydney Morning Herald Business Day