Tiger burning bright

Burning cash in Australia, that is, and how long can they continue losing down under ?

It is like Charles Dickens, a tale of two countries, Tiger made $53 million in Singapore over the last year but has lost in each of the three last years in Australia, chalking up a $9 million loss last year.

Here is CIMB’s take:

Going down under in Australia... FY11 marks the third year of losses for Tiger
Australia. An unfortunate combination of high fuel prices and poor demand led to a
S$9m operating loss for Tiger Australia the last financial year. Excluding losses
incurred in the January-March 2011 quarter following Queensland floods, Tiger
Australia would have contributed around S$7m to operating profits. Operating
conditions remain tough due to competitive pressures. As a result, Tiger Australia’s
capacity will be given a “time-out”, with no further capacity increases. Instead, Tiger
Australia’s management has been ordered to review its route network to return to
profitability.

…but rolling good times in Singapore. There is an entirely different picture in Asia,
with Tiger Singapore booking operating profits of S$53.8m (+121.4% yoy) in FY11.
This suggests that operations in Singapore have successfully recovered from
instability during September-October 2010 when pilot resignations led to flight
cancellations. Since November 2010, Tiger’s on-time performance has consistently
been above 80% with only one flight cancelled. Air travel remains strong in Asia and
Tiger has planned a 41% increase in seat capacity in the current northern summer
scheduling season. Tiger has also increased frequency on popular routes to Bangkok,
Hong Kong, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Kuala Lumpur.

For more of this report read here.

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