Tiger cancels flights as 2 airplanes suffer problems

Airline's bookings still strong despite report saying carrier has cancelled about 40 flights since September 28.

Shares of Singapore budget carrier Tiger Airways fell as much as 3.9 percent in early trade on Monday after a local newspaper reported that the firm had cancelled about 40 flights over a four-day period.

Tiger, 49 percent owned by Singapore Airlines, confirmed in a statement that a number of cancellations occured last week as a result of the knock-on effects of two aircraft being grounded.

"These disruptions were caused by the impact of technical issues with two Singapore-based aircraft which required extended maintenance," the airline said in a press release.

Tiger said the first aircraft, which was delivered in February 2010, was out of operation for several weeks. The carrier did managed to claim against the warranty of the plane, however.

The second passenger jet was grounded for week due to fuel tank contamination. Tiger operates about two dozen of Airbus A320 passenger jets.

At 0238 GMT, Tiger Airways shares were trading at S$2.01 on a volume of around 1.8 million shares, rebounding from an intraday low of S$1.96.

View the full story in Reuters.