Tiger pounces on Cairns as airline rebounds

TIGER Airways is resuming flights between Melbourne and Cairns today following its grounding last year.

Tiger airway

TIGER Airways is resuming flights between Melbourne and Cairns today following its grounding last year.

The low-cost carrier is offering sale fares on the route, which will operate daily, from $99.95.

It also announced last week it would resume flights between Melbourne and Hobart in November and will set up a second base in Sydney.

Tiger Airways Australia CEO Andrew David said the return to Cairns, in Queensland's tropical north, was another milestone for the carrier.

"In 2011 Cairns was voted the fastest growing domestic route in Australia so it should come as no surprise that we are responding to customer demand and in the process helping to level the competitive playing field,'' Mr David said.

He said there were many other destinations around Australia which were keen for Tiger's return and it would be making further announcements in due course.

The airline continues to operate a smaller schedule following its grounding by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority for six weeks due to safety reasons last year.

The move followed two incidents where pilots flew into Melbourne airports below the lowest safe altitude.
It had a negative impact on the airline's profits.

The Tiger Airways Group reported a loss of $17.4 million for the quarter ending December 31 last year, which it said was a result of its reduced operations in Australia.

This is compared to a profit of $22.5 million for the same quarter the previous year.