Tiger leaves 200 in the lurch
A report in The Daily Telegraph says that budget carrier Tiger Airways left 200 passengers stranded overnight at an Australian airport after yet another embarrassing cancellation due to crew shortages.
Flight TR717 from Perth to Singapore was postponed late on Saturday after the captain became concerned with his crew working overtime.
The airline has no stand-by crews at destinations other than Melbourne and Singapore.
A Tiger spokesman could not confirm yesterday whether the pilot had even made the right decision.
Passengers were told of the cancellation at 10.30pm, three hours after the scheduled departure time. They were told to go home and come back the next day or bunk down at the airport.
The postponed flight left Perth at 2pm on Sunday.
“The captain had a look at the time sheets of the crew and decided to postpone the flight because he was concerned they would work out of hours on the return leg,” Tiger spokesman Matt Hobbs said.
“I’m not sure why on this particular flight they thought they might go out of hours, but we stand by our pilots.”
It was the latest gaffe from the carrier which has cancelled 10 flights since its November 23 domestic launch due to crew shortages and illness. The majority of those cancellations were made on the Melbourne-Gold Coast route, where on one occasion a passenger with an ear infection forced a flight to be postponed a day.
While the airline claims reliability is improving, the percentage of flights cancelled still outranks budget rivals Jetstar and Virgin Blue.
Over an average monthly period, Tiger has cancelled 2.6 per cent of its flights, compared to figures released in October that had Jetstar cancelling 0.4 per cent and Virgin Blue 1 per cent.
“It happens in aviation from time to time.” “It happens crews go out of hours.” “The other cancellations were due to staff sickness and we can’t fly without four crew and two pilots.” “You have to ensure safe operation,” Mr Hobbs said.
Tiger Airways believes the cancellations were not significantly hurting the airline’s public image.
“We are an airline.” “Have a look at how many other airlines cancel flights every other day of the week.” “It happens in aviation,” Mr Hobbs said.
A Report by The Mole from The Daily Telegraph
John Alwyn-Jones
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