Tigerair Australia
Tiger Airways Australia was formed as the Australian affiliate of Tiger Airways. In February 2007, Tiger announced that it hoped to become Australia's third full-scale domestic airline, competing directly with Virgin Blue and Qantas/Jetstar.[8] Tigerair Australia planned to use its Australian domestic network to support an expanded international presence through the gateway of Perth, expanded to include Melbourne. On 16 March 2007 the airline received approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board to establish the new subsidiary/[9][10]
Tiger Airways Australia began operations on 23 November 2007. In July 2008 Tiger announced that it would suspend its flights from Darwin on 25 October, citing Darwin International Airport operating and fuel costs, making it the most expensive airport on the Tigerair Australia network but did not rule out returning in the future if costs were to decrease.[11] Tigerair Australia resumed services to Darwin on Friday 18 June 2010.[12] On 5 August 2008 the airline announced Adelaide as its second operational base[13] and began services on 10 January 2010.
Tiger resumed flights on 2 August 2011, after it was grounded for safety issues, on a restricted schedule maintaining its hub in Melbourne. Tiger Airways Australia re-opened its second base at Sydney with three aircraft in July 2012.
In October 2012, Virgin Australia Holdings (parent company of competitor Virgin Australia) announced its intention to purchase 60% of Tiger Airways Australia. The deal was completed in July 2013, after the airline had changed its name to Tigerair Australia.[14]
In October 2014, Virgin Australia Holdings announced plans to acquire the remaining 40% stake in Tigerair Australia for $1. Virgin retained the Tigerair name and acquired the brand rights for Tigerair to operate to some international destinations from Australia.[15][16][17]
In March 2020 Tigerair Australia ceased operations due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, following Virgin Australia Holdings entering administration, new owner Bain Capital, confirmed the brand would be retired and not resume operations.[18][19]
Tigerair Taiwan
Tigerair Taiwan is a Taiwanese affiliate and was set up as a joint venture between China Airlines and Tiger Airways Holdings. China Airlines holds a 90% stake in the new carrier, while Tiger Airways Holdings holds the remaining 10%.[20] The carrier is based at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and currently has 6 aircraft.[21] It was the first Taiwan-based LCC to start operations and the only LCC in the country that are still flying (The other being V Air of Transasia Airways, which folded in 2016). In 2017, as Tigerair Singapore merged into Scoot, CAPA reports that China Airlines will buy another 10% from Budget Aviation Holdings, leaving China Airlines Group (China Airlines and Mandarin Airlines) the owner of the airline, despite allowed to retain the brand.[22]
Tigerair Philippines
Tigerair Philippines was the Philippines affiliate of Tigerair. The joint venture was announced in November 2010 between Tiger Airways Holdings and SEAir, which saw Tigerair leasing its two Airbus A319 aircraft to SEAir to open up new international routes out of SEAir's base at Clark International Airport. The DG-coded flights were operated by SEAir's pilots and cabin crew using the leased aircraft which were repainted into SEAir's livery. Seats on these flights were marketed by Tiger in addition to SEAir's own website.[23]
In February 2011, Tiger Airways Holdings increased its share in the venture to 40%,[24] however in March 2014, Tigerair disposed of its 40% stake in the airline to Cebu Pacific, though flights were still temporarily branded as Tigerair Philippines.[25]
Tigerair Mandala
Tigerair Mandala was the Indonesian affiliate of Tigerair. The airline was a joint venture between Tiger Airways Holdings and Saratoga Investama Sedaya. It was technically the oldest airline in the group since it had been operating since 1969.
Tigerair ventured into the Indonesian market by buying the troubled Mandala Airlines, with the Saratoga Group holding a majority 51.3% and the remaining 15.7% by previous shareholders and creditors of Mandala.[26] Tigerair Mandala sported a hybrid livery with the name 'mandala' on the fuselage accompanied by Tigerair's stripes on the tail and wingtips.
Tigerair Mandala started operations on 5 April 2012, with one domestic route between its home base Jakarta and Medan, the capital of North Sumatra. This was followed by its first international destination when it launched the Medan-Singapore route on 20 April 2012,[27] adding a second Indonesian destination to Tigerair Singapore network after Jakarta. In May 2012, Tigerair Mandala flew to Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur from Jakarta.[28] Before it ceased its operations, Tigerair had 35.8% Shares.
