Tiger dumps Bali Flights

[Michael Cleary]

So, whats Tiger up to here? seems they upset the Indonesians in some way.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-03/tigerair-dumps-australia-to-bali-flights-permanently/8239064

[Greg McDonald]

I think it's more the Indonesians being aholes :)

[MarkR]

Indonesia went from turning a blind eye to regulations to rollling out the red tape after the Air Asia incident, and cutting red tape in Indonesia normally involves money.

[Adrian B]

Ok So here is my uneducated take on this, happy to be politely corrected.

Whilst only going on the media reports; if Tiger - or any other carrier cannot provide a financially viable service to Bali, or anywhere else, then they are right to pull the pin now. I think some organisations - aviation and non - have made the mistake of not making hard decisions; not looking at opportunities from the long term return on investment, inclusive of all setup costs.

With several other players providing a Bali service (8 carriers, 17 options under 12 hours flight time in one day) why not look at a market where they can compete on their operating model without major financial expense in restructuring, and utilising existing fleet and crew based on range.

Or better still create a market.

This may open up the opportunities for places such as Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Noumea out of Adelaide or Melbourne, Samoa out of Sydney etc. There are plenty of gaps on the east coast from a direct flight perspective and price point where they could provide a good service. All of the above are in a similar range of Melbourne Bali (2400 NM)

As an example I priced Melbourne - Port Vila. All are minimum one stop (Some 2) some overnight in Sydney or Brisbane, plus $450 each way, plus overnight accommodation and you lose a day. 2 adults and 2 kids pretty much kills that off as a holiday. A 6 am departure out of Melbourne becomes a 7pm arrival on a three hour flight (I understand the time difference as well) By the time you add in resort food and drink prices (if not included), one night in AUS overnight, it turns into an expensive nonviable option.

I know it sucks for the people whom are personally affected, but if Tiger is to become a serious long term contender it needs to make hard decisions like this for the long term. Indonesia like to complain about Aussies, and prefer the Japanese market over the Australian markets. A simple look at overflight rights around Bali confirms this. Asian based carriers such as Air Asia were about to circumvent the ash cloud issues by flying a different flight path over northern Indonesia soil, yet many Australia carriers were not allowed to overfly Indonesian land?

Just my 2 cents worth whilst it is still currency. No use that t milk bar any more....

[Ryan Hothersall]

I reckon the only reason Tigerair have been forced to stop flights to Bali is they didn't put a brown paper bag of money under the office door of some corrupt Indonesian official.

[Glennm]

With some new domestic and first time international routes being looked at out of Newcastle maybe Tigerair can see an opportunity there. Tigerair flew NTL-MEL about a decade ago I think before withdrawing from that route. Maybe someone remembers when they flew to Newcastle?

[Oliver Gigacz]

I flew on Tiger from MEL-NTL in Feb 08.

[Ryan Hothersall]

Photo from June 2008 during a visit to the Fighter World Museum.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8612/16570954950_3e8cd18c0f_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/rfjtzQ)TigerA320-232-VH-VND-2 (https://flic.kr/p/rfjtzQ) by Ryan Hothersall (https://www.flickr.com/photos/ryanhothersall/), on Flickr

[Justin L]

With some new domestic and first time international routes being looked at out of Newcastle maybe Tigerair can see an opportunity there. Tigerair flew NTL-MEL about a decade ago I think before withdrawing from that route. Maybe someone remembers when they flew to Newcastle?

I flew NTL-MEL and MEL-NTL in September 2008. They were $20 return flights or so for AFL Grand Final Weekend (from the Thursday parade to the day after the game Sunday).