Tiger in the air between Melbourne and Sydney
Tiger Airways launched services between Melbourne and Sydney for the first time yesterday and with it came the expected media frenzy on the potential impact the new player will have on one of the world busiest routes.
While Tiger is expected to push aggressively for market share with the release of deeply discounted fares, it remains to be seen what impact the airline will have with it’s current three and soon to be four daily services between Melbourne and Sydney.
A quick price check this morning confirms Tiger is hitting the market with exceptionally low fares.
A return airfare on Tiger from Melbourne to Sydney for Wednesday 8 July produced a fare of $166 plus an additional $20 if you need to check in luggage and a $12 credit card fee.
By comparison, Virgin Blue were offering flights for similar times for $330 plus $16 for checked in baggage with Qantas offering fares for $452 plus a $7.70 credit card surcharge.
While Tigers fares are clearly cheaper than the two major incumbents, the numbers of flights they provide at this point in time are limited with travellers only being offered a choice of three flights between Melbourne and Sydney at 6:50am, 4:25pm and 7:35pm while on the return, flight times were 8:45am, 6:20pm and 9:30pm. This is a stark contrast to Virgin Blue who provides 25 daily flights and Qantas who provide 30 flights.
What may cause trouble for the airline, on what is considered a major business route, is a history of poor on time performance and a reputation for delayed flights which leaves passengers stranded at airports for hours waiting for the next flight.
According to government statistics, Tiger’s on-time arrival performance for May is 73%, well down on other airlines and you don’t need to venture too far to find a disgruntled Tiger passenger who has written a few colourful sentences about a recent trip.
To the airlines credit, they recognise this and are working hard to turn things around. Tiger’s reliability issues stem from the limited number of aircraft in service at this point in time, with only four A320’s servicing 11 destinations from Melbourne. This is something the airline is looking to address through the introduction of new aircraft which will allow them to increase the frequency of flights across their current network.
But it won’t come easy, as Tigers foray into the Australian domestic market is at a time when the two major domestic carriers are rationalising services in an attempt to minimise losses caused by the biggest downturn in aviation since the start of the jet age.
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