Tigerair's Philippine wing suffered $6m losses amidst tougher competition

Even Aussie operations brought bad news.

According to CIMB, the Singapore business suffered a 5% yoy fall in yields as passenger resistance to the higher airport taxes coming from the 25 September 2012 move to Terminal 2 from the Budget Terminal (increase from S$18 to S$34/pax) necessitated a reduction in its fares to hold load factors up.

CIMB said that as a result, Singapore delivered S$6m in operating profit, only S$2m more yoy despite ASK rising 25%. The Australian operations incurred a large S$17m operating loss despite massive improvements in its operating data as sector length-adjusted yields likely fell on heavy competition.

"Mandala contributed a loss of S$7.3m that was double last year’s 1Q despite its fleet size rising from two to nine planes during this period. Tigerair Philippines (formerly known as SEAir) contributed S$6m in losses as competition remains tough," CIMB said.