A week after releasing strong financial year end passenger and operating results, Tiger Aviation today announced firm plans for continued fleet expansion.
At the Industry Leader Luncheon Aerospace Forum Asia in Hong Kong today, President and Group Chief Executive Tony Davis announced that as the group is bringing forward the delivery of aircraft to meet passenger demand for its low fare services, Tiger Airways will be issuing a Request For Proposal to raise US$225M in aircraft and engine financing. Consistent with its business model, this will help the company lower its aircraft ownership costs to continue providing low, low fares to passengers. Davis mentioned that invitations for financing will be sent out this week.
Davis added that by sticking to its business model, Tiger Airways is confident of its continued success despite the current economic situation. Davis said “The sale and leaseback financial arrangements have worked well for us; given our strong operating performance to date, we are now in a position to explore other forms of financing to continue to innovate and leverage the current business climate.â€
Together with being the launch customer for Australia for the A319s, this RFP for the four A320s signals Tiger Airways serious intention of expanding its route network rapidly.
This is the culmination of a very successful year for Tiger Airways as the company transitioned into a group structure with the launch of Tiger Aviation in September 2007 and the successful launch of Tiger Airways Australia in November 2007, with work on setting up Incheon Tiger in Korea underway.
A Report by the Mole
