Tiger Airways March passenger volume up 23% to 6mn

Load factor from April 2010 to March 2011 averaged 86%, compared to 85% in the previous 12 months.

Tiger Airways reported solid passenger volumes and load factors in March 2011.

From April 2010 to March 2011, a total of 6.0 million passengers chose to fly with Tiger Airways, an increase of 23% over the 4.9 million passengers in the preceding 12 months. Average load factor for the 12-month period to March 2011 increased to 86%, an increase of 1 percentage point year-on-year, according to a Tiger Airways report.

For the month of March 2011, Tiger Airways carried 576,000 passengers, an 18% increase compared to the same month last year. The average load factor across Asia and Australia for the month was 85%.

Tony Davis, President and Group CEO of Tiger Airways Holdings, said, “We are pleased to have carried over six million passengers for the financial year ended 31 March 2011, a solid 23% increase over the previous 12 months.

The consistent growth in passengers throughout the financial year provides strong evidence that our low cost low fare model is in demand across the Asia Pacific region. We are determined to satisfy the strong demand for our services by continuing to grow our existing businesses in Singapore and Australia, to develop our partnership with SEAIR in the Philippines and to establish Thai Tiger in Thailand.

“In March, we commenced new services between Sydney and the Sunshine Coast. Tiger Airways now serves Sydney from six destinations within Australia, solidifying Sydney’s “virtual hub” status on our network.

“Tiger Airways Singapore is growing seat capacity by 41% in the Northern Summer 2011 program, with increased frequencies to key destinations to be rolled out progressively. Cities that will benefit from increased frequencies from Singapore include Bangkok, Chennai, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Kuala Lumpur.

“This month, through our Partner Airline Programme with SEAIR, we announced daily services between Manila (Clark) and Macau, commencing 27 May 2011. Macau becomes our third destination from Manila (Clark) and follows our recently launched Hong Kong service in addition to our Singapore service,” said Mr Davis.

Tiger Airways Holdings Limited will announce its financial results for the financial year ended 31 March 2011 on 19 May 2011.