Tiger’s Davis serves it up to legacy carriers
SINGAPORE – It was not so long ago that a former director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines dismissed the arrival of low cost carriers in Asia as an irrelevance.
His view was that “Asian locals were not a promising market as income in most Asian countries was not high enough to sustain the sort of mass traffic that low-cost airlines cater to in Europe and Americaâ€
Try telling that to Tiger Airways’ Tony Davis, who was invited to a panel discussion during AAPA’s Assembly of Presidents last week.
Davis told fellow panelists, Tony Tyler of Cathay Pacific and Keisuke Okada of All Nippon Airways, “I’m glad I’m in my (airline) model and not yours.â€
The Tiger chief said it was to the advantage of low cost carriers that they had “no history, no legacy responsibilities or obligationsâ€.
He recalled his time working for British Airways in the UK when TWA and Pan Am provided the only competition – and not great competitors at all.
“At the time we dismissed low cost carriers because we didn’t feel the public would accept having to pay for food and drink on flights, or climb steps to an aircraft, or fly to and from secondary airports.
“I have to tell you guys,†said Davis, “the public will accept all of these things if the fares are low enough, because that’s what they want.â€
Davis said the airlines he felt most sorry for were those who were “neither fish nor fowlâ€.
“Whether you are an LCC or a legacy carrier, you need to offer the best in class,†he said.
Ian Jarrett
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