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Tiger Airways’s grounding in Australia will cost around A$1.5 million a week, parent Tiger Airways Holdings notified the Singaporean stock exchange on Sunday.
The grounding is currently in effect through until Saturday July 9, stranding about 35,000 passenger booked to fly on Tiger during that time. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) may apply to the Federal Court to have the grounding extended beyond the initial five working day period, but nonetheless Tiger continues to sell tickets for its Australian services from July 9 on.
“Tiger Airways continues to cooperate fully with the industry regulator and the week ahead will be a busy one as we continue to work with CASA to reassure them, resolve the concerns they have raised and aim to resume our services as quickly as possible,” the airline said in a statement on Sunday.
“The Tiger Airways Australian team and its parent company are absolutely committed to the airline’s long term future in Australia.”
Tiger Airways CEO Tony Davis has flown into Melbourne, the airline’s Australian base, to lead negotiations with CASA to try to resolve the issues around the grounding.
The financial and reputational impact of the grounding has caused many analysts to question whether Tiger will in fact be able to successfully resume operations. Tiger’s Australian operations lost A$6.8 million for the financial year to March 31, even as the parent company made a A$41 million operating profit.
