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Tigerair Australia says it has withdrawn its legal challenge against Sydney Airport after the two parties reached a new agreement on the low-cost carrier’s access to infrastructure at the airport.
In July, Tigerair took Sydney Airport to the National Competition Council (NCC) seeking increased access to terminal gates, check-in counters and kiosks at Terminal two.
Since its application to the NCC, Tigerair and Sydney Airport have been in “in-depth commercial discussions” that Tigerair chief executive Rob Sharp said achieved a successful resolution that offered “good outcomes for all parties involved”.
“Today’s agreement gives Tigerair a fair go at Sydney Airport and will enable us to continue to focus on creating a strong operating platform that supports sustainable growth and brings healthy competition to the budget air travel market,” Sharp said in a statement on Monday.
Sharp said Tigerair had a sound working relationship with Sydney Airport.
The airline has said previously it was unable to grow its Sydney based fleet beyond the four Airbus A320s based there currently to a desired six due to infrastructure constraints.
Issues included the assignment of remote bays which required bussing passengers from the terminal and the need for remote tankers to refuel aircraft due to a lack of in-ground refuelling facilities at those remote stands, which increased costs and affected the airline’s on-time performance.
Tigerair spokesperson Vanessa Regan said the details of the new deal were commercial-in-confidence, while details on potential future growth were also under wraps for now.
“The industry is highly competitive and we never give away our future plans prematurely,” Regan said in an emailed statement on Monday.
“We do plan to grow in Australia to achieve necessary scale but we will as always, make announcements about developments as and when appropriate – in due course.”
