Tiger Airways today finalised an agreement to acquire a 40% stake in Philippine-based Southeast Asian Airlines (SEAir).
This stake will be acquired from existing shareholders for US$7 million. The investment will be held through Tiger’s subsidiary, Roar Aviation II Pte Ltd.
“We are pleased to welcome a new cub to our family and look forward to nurturing its growth with our Filipino business partners. The investment in SEAir is in line with our strategy to develop the business into a pan-Asian one, one that will enable us to leverage on the strength of our Singapore base and scale up the size of our business across the region,” said Tiger’s Chief Executive Officer, Chin Yau Seng.
The investment in SEAir is Tiger’s second such joint venture in Asia, following the 33% stake it acquired in Indonesia’s Mandala Airlines in January 2012.
“We will continue to seek opportunities to extend the Tiger reach in Asia Pacific. Asia is one of the fastest growing areas in air travel and we intend to play a major role in driving that growth,” said Chin.
“The Philippines is a large country with more than 7,000 islands and a population of over 90 million, not including the 11 million working and living abroad. There is enormous potential to develop the domestic and international air travel,” Chin added.
SEAir currently operates two Airbus A319 aircraft leased from Tiger. The airline now plans to expand its fleet to five aircraft this financial year with the addition of three A320 aircraft.
With the arrival of these new aircraft, SEAir will be introducing new routes, although details of these have not been announced. The airline will adopt Tiger’s low-cost business model, operating to international and domestic destinations within a five-hour flying radius of the Philippines.
Currently SEAir operates domestic flights within the Philippines and international routes to destinations including Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Kota Kinabalu.
