Tiger carried 556,000 passengers in August

SINGAPORE - Budget carrier Tiger Airways carried 556,000 passengers in August, up 62 per cent from a year earlier, as operations for the corresponding month last year were hit by the grounding of Tiger Australia.

For a six-week period starting July 1, 2011 and spilling into August, the low-cost carrier's services in Australia were suspended after the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority cited safety concerns. When Tiger Australia resumed domestic services on Aug 12, 2011, this was done with reduced capacity.

Groupwide traffic in revenue passenger-kilometres rose 58 per cent in August from a year earlier, as capacity rose 45 per cent and passenger load factor climbed seven percentage points to 84 per cent. For the 12 months to August 2012, the total number of passengers carried was 5.5 million, down 8 per cent, while load factor slipped four percentage points to 81 per cent.

Tiger Singapore carried 353,000 passengers last month, up 11 per cent year-on-year, while passenger load factor climbed five percentage points to 83 per cent. Tiger Australia had 203,000 passengers - versus 25,000 in August last year - which brought it almost on par with pre-suspension levels in June 2011. Passenger load factor for Tiger Australia was 87 per cent in August this year, up from 60 per cent in August 2011.

"Tiger Australia took delivery of its 11th new A320 aircraft in August 2012 and a new service, Sydney-Brisbane, was launched. More flights will be progressively introduced, which will bring the number of services back to the pre-suspension levels by October 2012," the budget carrier said.

Tiger shares closed one cent down at 72 cents on Monday.

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