Collective Strength

When it comes to low cost carrier muscle in the skies across Asia Pacific, Tigerair Australia is a veritable minnow. With a fleet of 14 A320s flying domestically and three 737s serving its only international destination – Bali – the brand is hardly known outside Australia. Yet in one fell swoop it has joined a virtual regional network, spreading its reach well beyond its means, reports TOM BALLANTYNE.

This, declared Tigerair Australia chief executive Rob Sharp, is a game changer for the industry. Speaking in Singapore, he was talking about a landmark new partnership – the Value Alliance – between eight of the region’s low-cost carriers with the potential to break the dominance in budget operations currently held by big groups like Malaysia’s AirAsia, Qantas’s Jetstar stable and Indonesia’s Lion Air.

“We are basically kicking off a new concept and this will add a lot of value and I believe over time it will actually grow,” Sharp said. “It will offer greater connectivity and a choice of travel options throughout the Asia Pacific region as the partner airlines bring their extensive networks together. ” Last year, the member airlines – Tigerair Australia, Cebu Pacific from the Philippines (and its subsidiary Cebgo), Korea’s Jeju Air, Thailand’s Nok Air and NokScoot, Singapore budget long-haul subsidiary Scoot, Tigerair Singapore and Japan’s Vanilla Air, owned by All Nippon Airways, collectively carried more than 46 million travellers from 17 hubs across the region.