Tigerair

Tiger Airways Singapore Pte, Limited

IATA TR ICAO TGW Callsign GO CAT
Founded	12 December 2003 (founded as Tiger Airways)
Hubs	Singapore Changi Airport
Fleet size	25
Destinations	28
Company slogan	Get The Real Deal
Parent company	Tigerair Holdings
Headquarters	Singapore
Key people	Ho Yuen Sang (Managing Director) Kaneswaran Avilli (Commercial Director)
Website	www.tigerair.com

Tiger Airways Singapore Pte Ltd, operating as Tigerair, is a low-cost airline headquartered in Singapore. It operates services to regional destinations in Southeast Asia, Australia, China and India from its main base at Singapore Changi Airport.

It has its head office in the Honeywell Building in Changi, Singapore^[1]

Tigerair won the CAPA Low Cost Airline of the Year Award for 2006 and 2010.

History

Establishment

Former Tiger Airways branding

Tiger Airways Singapore was incorporated on 12 December 2003 and began ticket sales on 31 August 2004. Services commenced on 15 September 2004 to Bangkok. Scheduled international services are operated from Singapore Changi Airport. The airline is a subsidiary of Tiger Airways Holdings, a Singapore based company.

In 2006, the airline flew 1.2 million passengers, a growth of 75% from the previous year.

The airline was the first to operate from the Budget Terminal at Changi Airport as part of its cost-saving operations structure, similar to Ryanairs. Despite regional competition, the airline has reiterated its current intention to remain focused on flying within a five-hour radius from its Singaporean base.

As of 25 September 2012, Tigerair Singapore operates from Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 2 due to the demolition of the Budget Terminal to make way for Terminal 4, due to be completed in 2017.

Route Strategy

The airline flew into a period of relative difficulty for the aviation industry with rising oil prices and intense competition from other airlines. The airline held off imposing fuel surcharges as its competitors had done.

With Singapore Airlines having a stake in the airline, the airline occasionally fills in the gap when SIA drops its services from certain destinations. Macau, once served by SIA before being taken up by its subsidiary, SilkAir, in 2002, terminated all flights completely by the end of 2004. Three months later, the route was taken over by Tigerair with flights commencing 25 March 2005. A similar pattern can be observed in Krabi, where SilkAir suspended services in February 2005 in the wake of the effects of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Tigerair resumed direct services to the location from 7 October 2005.

In late July 2005, it was announced that the airline would commence flights from Macau to Manila (Clark) on 30 October 2005, a much-heralded move as it may signal the establishment of a secondary base besides Singapore, allowing the airline to expand and diversify risks.

On 21 September 2005 the company produced a report card on its first year of operations, with a total of over 500,000 passengers carried, 5000 scheduled flights flown, and a flight completion rate of 98.7 per cent. 94 per cent of flight departures and 90 per cent of arrivals took place according to schedule. It acquired four aircraft and launched a total of nine routes – of which four are flown exclusively by the airline – during the year.

The airline expected to increase its fleet to nine Airbus A320 aircraft by end 2006, and to carry up to three million passengers a year by then. It also hoped to add six more routes during the year, primarily to destinations in China and India, with flights to Southern China having commenced April.

The airline also announced its switch from Singapore Airport Terminal Services to Swissport for ground handling when it becomes the first airline to operate at the newly opened Budget Terminal in Changi Airport on 26 March 2006.

Tigerair became the first Singaporean low-cost carrier to receive operating permits from the Chinese aviation authorities to fly to the southern Chinese cities of Haikou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in an announcement on 21 February 2006. Ticket sales to these destinations commenced 24 February 2006, with the first flight to Shenzhen taking place on 15 April, to Haikou from 26 April and to Guangzhou from 27 April 2006. The airline has since indicated that the routes were highly popular, with increased flights to Haikou and Guangzhou less than three months since their launch.

In June 2006, flights to Danang were suspended. On 20 July 2006, the media reported on the airline's intentions to increase its routes from 15 to 20 and to establish a second base city by the end of the year. Possible growth regions include China, Southern India, Cambodia and Brunei.

The airline's plan for a possible initial public offering was also revealed. At the same time, it announced that it saw an increase of 81 per cent in passengers carried in the months of April to June since its move to the Budget Terminal in March, compared to the same period in the previous year. Tigerair started services from Singapore to Perth on 23 March 2007.

On 25 October 2010, Tigerair announced that they will withdraw from Bangalore effective 14 November 2010, citing no reason. Tigerair resumed its flights between Singapore and Bangalore from 31 October 2011.

Destinations

Tigerair currently flies to destinations within an approximate five-hour radius from Singapore to 28 destinations in ten countries around the region. Thailand is its first market with four cities served (Bangkok, Phuket, Krabi and Hat Yai), taking advantage of the open skies agreement between Singapore and Thailand.

Aviation agreements have prevented the airline from flying to neighbouring Malaysia except Kuala Lumpur which started in February 2008. In September 2006, further liberalisation saw Tiger granted rights to fly to Kuching, Miri and Sibu in a bid to boost tourism in Sarawak.^[2] From 1 July 2013, Tigerair SIngapore only flies to Kuala Lumpur and Penang after the Kuching route was suspended.

In January 2011, Tigerair launched flights to Taipei in Taiwan. The capital city of Taiwan is Tigerair's sixth destination in Greater China, after Guangzhou, Haikou, Hong Kong, Macau and Shenzhen.^[3]

Recent network expansion has focused on the Indian subcontinent and the Philippines. Flights to Bangalore were reintroduced along with the addition of Kochi in India, Cebu and Davao in the Philippines, Dhaka in Bangladesh and Colombo in Sri Lanka. Tigerair also considered to fly from Visakhapatnam in India, but due to the local airport time restrictions, it shifted to Hyderabad. It has been announced in early July 2012 that Tigerair would be flying five days a week to Hyderabad, India starting 28 September 2012.

Tigerair started flying to Manila, Cebu and Davao in 2011 but the Davao route was suspended in 2012.

In June 2013, Tigerair Singapore will be operating flights to Bali, Jogjakarta and Bandung with an increased frequency to Jakarta with three times daily flight. Indonesia flights are also supported with the addition of an Indonesian affiliate, Tigerair Mandala who have launched routes in Indonesia to Medan, Bali, Surabaya, Pekanbaru and Jakarta.

Corporate management

Tigerair Singapore is wholly owned by Tiger Airways Holdings Limited, a holding company set up in 2007 to manage both Tiger Airways and start-up Australian subsidiary Tigerair Australia. Tigerair' original founding shareholders were Singapore Airlines (49%), Bill Franke's Indigo Partners (24%); Tony Ryan's Irelandia Investments (16%) and Temasek Holdings (11%).^[4] Tiger Airways Holdings Limited is listed on SGX since 2010.

According to the 2012 Annual Report, the main shareholders in Tiger Airways Holdings, as of 15 June 2012, who hold more than 5% shares, are:^[5]

• Singapore Airlines Limited (32.84%)
• Dahlia Investments Pte Ltd 7.37%

Business trends

The following table shows the business trends of Tigerair Singapore, excluding other Tigerair subsidiaries.

	Year ending 31 March:
	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Total Revenue (S$m)	268.0	277.9	341.8	460.9	611.0
Operating Profit (S$m)	12.2	25.0	53.8	−16.0	57.0
Passengers booked (thousands)				3,903	4,393
- passenger change year-on-year					12.6%
Passenger load factor (%)			85.4	81.0	84.3
Number of aircraft (at year end)	9	10	14	18	20
Sources	[6]	[6][7]	[7]	[8]	[8][9]

Pilot shortage 2010

Tigerair suffered a severe crewing shortage that took effect mid-2010. The carrier's attempt to cut wages prompted a mass exodus of captains, leaving the company to cancel half its schedule.^[10] As of October 2010, one in three flights was cancelled every day with the airline turning to Europe for pilots after attempts to lure Indonesian pilots failed due to the Indonesian pilots failing a Singapore CAA exam.^[11]

Fleet

As of 31 December 2013, the Tigerair fleet consists of the following aircraft:^[12]

All aircraft offer single-class economy seating for 180 seats each. The seat pitch is approximately 72.5 cm (28.5 in) for standard rows and 97.5 cm (38.4 in) for extra leg room and exit rows.^[14]

On 21 June 2007, Tigerair announced it had signed a letter of intent to purchase 30 aircraft worth US$2.2 billion, with another 20 on option. These would be delivered between 2011 and 2014.^[15] On 10 October, Tigerair confirmed the letter of intent signed in June. The new aircraft will be deployed in Tigerair's Asia-Pacific network and the domestic operation in Australia.^[16] On 18 December 2007, Tigerair announced that it had taken up the options and made further orders to take their fleet of Airbus A320s to 70 in total.^[17]

In-flight

Food and beverage options

Tigerair offers food and beverages available for purchase as part of a buy on board programme - Tiger Bites.^[18] The menu offers light meals such as instant noodles, soups and sandwiches. Hot and cold beverages as well as liquor are also available for purchase.

Entertainment

An in-flight magazine, Tiger Tales, is provided as free reading material for passengers.

See also

• Tigerair Holdings
• Tigerair Mandala
• Tigerair Australia
• Tigerair Philippines
• Tiger Group destinations

References

• Mb.com.ph

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tiger Airways.

• Tiger Airways
• Tiger Tales inflight magazine

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