Tiger Airways takes the fight to Virgin Australia despite JV prospects

Tiger Airways Australia has not been put off taking on its potential future parent Virgin Australia with a decision to compete head to head between Sydney and Coffs Harbour from Feb-2013.

The Singapore-owned LCC is steadily rebuilding its franchise after safety regulators grounded the carrier for six weeks in an unprecedented move in Jul-2011. Since its relaunch in Aug-2011 Tiger Australia's aim has been to build a foundation it can expand from without compromising safety processes which led to the grounding, and eventually achieve so-far elusive profitability.

However, Tiger Australia's fortunes received a major boost with the announcement in Oct-2012 that Virgin Australia would acquire 60% of the carrier, subject to regulatory approvals. While greatly levelling the playing field with Qantas - with its Jetstar LCC brand - the move could dramatically reshape the domestic network by removing a third competitor of any scale and returning the market to a duopoly between the Qantas and Virgin Australia groups.

Tiger Airways has announced five new destinations in 2012 - Cairns, Adelaide, Hobart, Mackay and Coffs Harbour.