Tiger’s JV with Thai Airways still up in the air

Whilst Tiger is still waiting for regulatory approval to start its budget operation with Thai Airways called Thai Tiger, Thai Airways is already busying itself with another budget carrier launch Thai Wings which may threaten Tiger’s new business.

So will Thai Airways new budget carrier Thai Wing’s be in competition with Thai-Tiger?

Thai Airways management told analysts from DMG that Thai Wings was more like a Silk air whilst the Tiger JV should be more like a true budget carrier, but either way there is a lot of turbulence in this three plane race.

Here's more from DMG:

We recently had a conference call with Thai Airways over the fate of Thai Tiger. Thai Airway’s new budget carrier, Thai Wings is not meant to replace Thai Tiger but will target the middle market, and be similar to Singapore Airline’s Silkair. However the fate of the JV still remains in the hands of Thailand’s Ministry of Transportation and will be known after the Thai elections set for 3 July 2011. We maintain our neutral stance with a TP of S$1.40.

Thai Wings not to replace Thai-Tiger. Thai Airways’s new budget carrier, Thai Wings which is targeted to commence operations by April 2012 will not be in direct competition with Thai-Tiger. Instead, it will be targeting the middle market, in between the high end and lower end and be similar to SIA’s SilkAir. Our channel checks reveal that while Thai Airways has a 39% stake in budget carrier NokAir (which also services the middle market), Thai has been unhappy with its minority stake as it is unable to exert enough control over the airline’s strategy and operations. We also believe that Thai wishes to gain from Tiger’s expertise in running a low cost airline.

Details on Thai-Tiger. The future of Thai-Tiger is still pending the Ministry of Transport’s approval and will be known after the Thai elections which is due to be held on 3 July 2012. We were told that while Thai will hold the majority stake (51%) in the JV, all the branding of the planes will be under Tiger Airways and the fleet will come from the latter. It said that Tiger has committed ten A320s in the first year should the JV take-off. Tiger is expecting net nine new aircraft deliveries this FY12 so we should expect it to advance deliveries should the JV be approved. The first route to be taken by the JV would be Tiger’s current BKK-SIN route.

Huge upside if JV is approved. We believe the Thai market offers huge potential for Tiger should the Thai-Tiger JV be approved. At present, we understand that Thai Airways holds a 40% market share while Air Asia holds another 40%. While it appears that Thai has lost market share to Air Asia, we were told by management that absolute number of passengers carried has actually not dwindled but Air Asia has just managed to create a whole new niche demand. We believe that Thai-Tiger is well placed to be a formidable competitor to Thai Air Asia as it would be part of the national carrier’s arm. This would be appealing to the patriotic Thais who are potentially likely to favor supporting their own national carrier.

You're the reader we write for. You're also the person our partners want to reach.

If that sentence describes you — a founder, a C-suite, someone whose attention companies pay good money for — then you already understand why SBR works. We've spent twenty years earning the trust of readers exactly like you. Which is exactly what makes this an interesting place for your company to show up, too.

The ways it can show up are broader than most people assume — thought leadership articles, sponsored content, industry summits across Southeast Asia, regional awards programmes, podcasts, and media placements in print and digital. The right fit depends on what you're trying to do, which is why we'd rather start with a conversation than send a rate card.

If your company has something this audience should know about, we'd like to hear what you're working on.

No rate cards until we understand the brief. It's a better use of everyone's time.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia

Top News

30 One-Sentence Stories From People Who Have Built Better Habits

None of these stories are mine. They were sent to me by readers of Atomic Habits. My hope is that these examples will illustrate how real people are putting the book into practice. They will show you what people are actually doing to build good habits and break bad ones. And hopefully, they will spark some ideas for how you can do the same.

news conversion

SBR 5 Lorem Ipsum News 2 [8 May]

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

SBR 4 Lorem Ipsum [8 May Top Stories]