Tiger on prowl for second base in Australia
MELBOURNE – Tiger Airways has been encountering problems, which it cites as “operational”, in its bid to win over the Australian public to its low fares.
After the hoo-ha surrounding its launch of domestic services Down Under, the Singapore carrier has cancelled four flights in the past few days.
A flight from the Gold Coast for Melbourne was cancelled this week, as was the return leg.
Tiger Airways’ head of corporate communications, Matt Hobbs said, “The inconvenience to people is not something that we want to happen but it happens to all airlines from time to time.”
Hobbs denied Tiger did not have enough back up to maintain services when problems occurred.
“If we didn’t have enough resources we would be cancelling flights all over the place,” he said.
Tiger is also facing scrutiny over its decision to seek exemption from laws that grant equal transport access to handicapped travellers.
The Australian newspaper has reported that Tiger has applied to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission to be exempted from the Disability Act so that it can temporarily refuse to carry some passengers with limited mobility.
The carrier has argued that it currently doesn’t have the necessary equipment to board wheelchair-bound people safely on to its Airbus A320 jets.
Tiger said special hydraulic devices necessary for lifting wheelchairs on to planes would not be available at all destinations until the end of February 2008.
Meanwhile, Tiger has announced that due to high demand it is hunting for a second hub in Australia to base its expanding fleet.
Chris Ward, managing director of Tiger Airways Australia, said, “The fantastic reaction from Australians to Tiger’s entry has been nothing short of phenomenal. We have had over 90 percent of seats sold in November, which was certainly beyond my expectations.
“It goes to show there is plenty of pent up demand for true low fare competition”.
As a result of the reaction to Tiger Airways’ entry into the Australian market the airline will examine suitable locations early next year for placing aircraft, crews and the necessary ground support at a second base within Australia.
Ian Jarrett
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