Tiger Airways Australia re-starts ops with reduced fleet, less routes and bases; Melbourne-Perth services restart on 7 September 2011

10 August 2011: UPDATED 2 September 2011

Tiger Airways Australia  restarted operations on Friday 12 August 2011 on the Melbourne-Sydney route,  with other capital cities added later,  following a six-week grounding imposed by CASA due to safety issues.

Tiger  is now flying daily Melbourne-Sydney, Melbourne-Brisbane and Melbourne-Gold Coast return services, and has now announced the recommencement of Perth services as its fourth route.

UPDATE: PERTH SCHEDULE IS AS FOLLOWS (STARTS 7 SEPTEMBER):

• Melbourne (Tullamarine) – Perth               TT182 Arr PER 09:15
• Perth – Melbourne (Tullamarine)               TT183 Dep PER 09:45

The airline is also closing down bases in Adelaide and  Avalon, and sending two of its 10 A320s back to Singapore for operations with  Tiger Airways (Singapore). It must also meet CASA’s  mandatory requirements, including being limited to 18 sectors per day and  working under increased CASA supervision and spot checks.

The grounding began on 2 July  2011 when CASA declared the airline to be “a serious and imminent risk to safety”  following a number of incidents and problems with documentation, and the  management of pilot training and maintenance.

Tiger has brought in former  Qantas chief pilot Chris Manning as safety consultant, reviewed all  documentation and its management structure.

CASA press release: The  Civil Aviation Safety Authority has lifted the suspension of Tiger Airways  Australia Pty Ltd, effective from Wednesday 10 August 2011.

This  follows a thorough investigation by CASA into safety issues within Tiger Airways  Australia.

As  a result of the investigation and consistent with previous actions taken by  CASA, a new set of conditions has been imposed on Tiger Airways Australia’s air  operator’s certificate.

These  conditions address key areas of operational importance within Tiger Airways and  will underpin ongoing improvements in the airline’s safety performance. To  continue to operate Tiger must comply with the conditions while they are in  place.

Areas  the conditions cover include:

• pilot training  and proficiency
• pilot rostering  and fatigue management
• currency and  revision of operational manuals and related documents
• improved  change-management processes and the appointment of additional qualified  personnel in key positions
• amendments to the  airline’s safety management system

Tiger  Airways Australia was required to demonstrate it had complied with the  necessary safety requirements before it was permitted to resume operations.

These  requirements included additional simulator and ground training for Tiger’s  pilots.

The  number of sectors Tiger Airways may fly is initially limited to a maximum of 18  a day during August 2011. Increased operations after August will be subject to  CASA approval.

CASA’s  Director of Aviation Safety, John McCormick, said Tiger had demonstrated to  CASA it can comply with the conditions on its air operator’s certificate and  meet the necessary safety requirements.

“On  that basis, CASA now believes allowing Tiger Airways Australia to resume  operations is acceptable,” Mr McCormick said.

“Tiger  Airways has co-operated with CASA’s investigation and is to be credited for a  constructive approach.

“CASA  will be closely monitoring the operations of Tiger Airways through scheduled  surveillance and regular spot checks. We will also be meeting regularly with  the airline to review ongoing safety performance and compliance with the  conditions on the airline’s operations.”

CASA  suspended the air operator’s certificate of Tiger Airways Australia on 2 July  2011.

Tiger press release:

The Civil Aviation Safety  Authority (“CASA”) has notified Tiger Airways Australia that it will  discontinue its legal action against the airline. As a consequence, the  airline’s Air Operator’s Certificate (“AOC”) has been re-instated and services  will resume on Friday 12th August 2011.

Tiger Airways Australia has  worked constructively with CASA to address the concerns that were raised by the  regulator, which has now enabled the AOC to be re-instated.

Tiger Airways Australia will  resume ticket sales today and will implement a gradual resumption of domestic  services from Friday 12 August 2011.

The airline is resuming  services with a simplified flight programme in order to focus on flying popular  and profitable routes. Flights will initially resume between Melbourne Airport  (Tullamarine) and Sydney. The resumption of services on other Tiger Airways  routes will be announced shortly. As part of its simplified flying programme,  Tiger Airways Australia will reduce its operating fleet from 10 Airbus A320  aircraft to eight Airbus A320 aircraft. Consequently, two Airbus A320 aircraft  will be redeployed to other airline businesses in the Tiger Airways Group.

The new flight schedule will  initially consolidate the business into a single crew base operating from  Melbourne Airport (Tullamarine) and as a result the crew base at Adelaide  Airport will be closed and the crew base at Avalon (Melbourne) Airport will be  temporarily suspended. All Tiger Airways Australia staff currently working at  the Adelaide and Avalon crew bases will be offered redeployment to the  Melbourne Airport (Tullamarine) operation.

Passengers already booked to  fly with Tiger Airways Australia from 12 August 2011 will be advised of any  change to their travel plans and will be offered a range of options including a  free of charge transfer to another Tiger Airways Australia flight of their  choice, or if their flight is not operating a full refund back to the original  form of payment or a credit for deferred travel.

Tiger Airways Australia is  committed to a safe, viable and long term future in Australia. The airline  remains committed to regaining the confidence of its customers through an  enhanced focus on punctuality and convenience, while continuing to offer Australia’s  most affordable air fares.