Tiger Airways Australia seen to continue its losing streak in 1Q13

Profit will only pick up once the carrier’s new hub in Sydney starts operations in July 2012, an analyst said.

In a statement, DMG Research said it expects Tiger Airways Australia to continue incurtring losses from April to June as limitations in the capacity of its Tullamarine Airport base have rendered three of its aircrafts idle.

The Tullamarine base is currently unable to support Tiger’s entire fleet of 10.

Tiger Airways reported a net loss of S$104m in FY12 versus a net profit of S$40m in FY11. Revenue declined by a marginal 1% to S$618m, largely due to the 6-week flight suspension in Australia, subsequent flight restrictions and capacity indigestion over in Singapore.

In particular, Tiger Australia’s operating loss amounted to S$77m in FY12 versus an operating loss of S$9m in FY11.

Management officials from the carrier said its second hub in Sydney will start with one A320 and progressively ramp up services to 64 sectors daily by Sep2012, in time for its seasonally peak third quarter from October to December 2012.

Tiger Singapore, in contrast, is seen to turn profitable in FY13 with its earnings covering losses from Australia, which are expected to significantly reduce in 2HFY12.

With stubbornly high oil prices, DMG Research expects Tiger Airways to only be “marginally profitable” in FY13.