Tiger Air agrees to extend Australia grounding until Aug. 3

Publish date: Mon, 01 Aug 2011, 10:40 AM
Tiger Airways Holdings, whose Australian unit was grounded about a month ago on safety concerns, agreed to extend the flight halt by at least two days as it continues talks with the nation’s safety regulator.

The carrier and Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority postponed a court hearing that may end the suspension from today until Aug. 3., Singapore-based Tiger said in a filing to the city’s stock exchange today. The airline said reports it may resume flights on Aug. 5 were “speculation.”
 
Tiger, which is 33% owned by Singapore Airlines, has responded to a list of steps it needs to take to win back its license, and the regulator is assessing this, CASA said in a separate statement, without elaboration. The flight ban was imposed after a plane came in to land too low on July 1 while the carrier was already under a safety review because of previous lapses.


Since the grounding, Chief Executive Officer Tony Davis has taken control of the Australian operations, Executive Director Chin Yau Seng has become acting CEO and the carrier has hired former Qantas Airways chief pilot Chris Manning as an adviser. The halt is costing Tiger $2 million a week, the airline said July 4. It hasn’t given an update on the cost since then. The carrier is due to report earnings on Aug. 4.
 
Tiger rose 1.7% to $1.225 at 9:39 a.m. in Singapore. It has gained 3% since the Australia grounding, reversing a 16% plunge on July 4, the first day of trading after the flight halt. Qantas, Australia’s biggest carrier, rose 0.9% to A$1.18 in Sydney.
 
Tiger’s Australia unit, with a fleet of 10 Airbus SAS A320 planes, is refunding passengers booked on flights up to Aug. 5. Tiger’s main Singapore operations are unaffected by the suspension.
 
 
Discussions
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stephenlee

What is boiling on in Tiger Air? Still unresolve issues with CACS? Is the Authority trying to be cocky?

2011-08-05 00:08

Ang Moh Lin

So many bad news on Tiger Air recently. Should pull out from Aussie soonest possible as every year losing money.

2011-08-07 13:44

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