Tiger Airways will establish a second Australian base in Sydney later this year.
In a statement released today, the low-cost carrier said that it would base three Airbus A320 aircraft at Sydney from July 2012, providing up to 10 additional daily services from the hub.
“Three aircraft operating from our second Australian base will provide up to 3,600 extra seats a day through Sydney Airport,” Andrew David, Chief Executive Officer of Tiger Airways Australia said.
The airline currently operates from a single base in Melbourne. It had also operated a small base at Adelaide airport, but was forced to close this following its enforced grounding in July 2011. Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) lifted Tiger’s flight ban the following month, but initially only permitted the airline to operate 18 daily flights, which it used on the high volume Melbourne-Sydney route, forcing the closure of its Adelaide base.
Tiger Airways, which is part-owned by Singapore Airlines, currently operates 38 flights per day, but this is expected to rise to 64 by October 2012. It offers three routes from Sydney, to Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, but the new base could allow it to expand to new destinations such as Perth and Cairns.
