Alice grabs Tiger by tail

Jonathon Howard

06Mar09

Alice Springs residents were snapping up cheap seats on flights to Adelaide through budget airline Tiger Airways this week.

Seat prices were as low as $50 a person one way to Adeliade -- as of Thursday afternoon.

Tiger Airways touched down in Alice Springs from Adelaide for the first time on Tuesday.

The youngest airline in Australia will now offer a regular flight route to Adelaide from Alice Springs, which means more travel options and greater savings for Territorians.

In addition, a further 540 seats a week will now come into Alice Springs, meaning more visitors to the Red Centre.

Up until now, passengers had no alternative but to fly with Qantas to Adelaide, since Virgin Blue withdrew its services in September 2005.

Tiger Airways has a fleet of six brand new Airbus A320 in operation throughout Australia.

Tiger took to the skies from Singapore in September 2004 with just two Airbus A320 aircraft in its fleet and three routes in its network.

Within four years of operation, Tiger Airways now operates from Singapore and Melbourne bases and the newly opened third base is situated in Adelaide.

Tiger Airways flies to more than 25 destinations across nine countries in Asia and Australia on a fleet of 30 brand new Airbus A320 aircraft.

Tiger Airways head of communications Matt Hobbs said: "Tiger Airways is a low-cost, no-frills operation.

"We cut the cost on advertising and expensive office buildings to ensure that our passengers receive the best quality and cheapest possible prices.

"Tiger Airways hope to expand their operation in both Australia and overseas to 72 aircraft by 2016."

Mr Hobbs would not comment on whether Tiger would introduce any other flight routes to Sydney or Brisbane from Alice Springs, but he did not rule it out.

The company is made up of four shareholders including:

Singapore Airlines Limited 49 per cent;

Indigo Partners LLC, the investment firm founded by Bill Franke with 24 per cent;

Irelandia Investments Limited, the private investment arm of the Ryan family who own Ryan Air in Europe with 16 per cent;

Temasek Holdings Pty Ltd 11 per cent.