Tiger Airways under scrutiny by CASA

[Peter Agatsiotis]

On this morning's news CASA has issued a 'show cause' notification to Tiger Airways with concerns about Maintenance standards and Pilot training.
The TV report was quoting an article from the Herald Sun.

A flight from Melbourne to Brisbane due out at 6:15 am today was cancelled due to technical reasons.

The article apparently compares this incident with similar actions against Ansett prior to its demise.

[damien b]

CASA issued the notice on the 23rd of March and Tiger Airways had 21 days to reply which they have and they seem to have satisfied CASA. I say that as they are still flying.

Link to story on News.com.au

http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/safety-fears-for-tiger/story-e6frfq80-1226042496718

[Robert Zweck]

It would have to be something incredibly serious for Tiger to be told to cease flying...even temporarily


The media portray Tiger as one step away from falling out of the sky.

[Debra Rettie]

Below is the article from the Sydney Morning Herald from today Thursday 21 April 2011


The Easter holiday plans of hundreds of travellers have been thrown into chaos this morning after Tiger Airways cancelled two interstate flights from Melbourne - and said alternative services were not available until Saturday.

Angry passengers said they were forced to fork out hundreds of dollars more to secure last-minute flights with other airlines to be with their families over the holiday break

One man, who was due to fly to Brisbane on cancelled flight TT5202 at 6.15am today to scatter the ashes of his dead father, said he could not afford the added expense and may have to miss the ceremony.
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Another Tiger flight, TT5118 from Melbourne to Sydney due to depart at 11.50am today, has also been cancelled.

Tiger spokeswoman Vanessa Regan said the planes were near capacity, with about 170 passengers on each flight. She apologised to passengers, saying the cancellations were due to "operational reasons".

It comes as the budget airline faces being grounded by the aviation regulator following a series of serious safety and maintenance breaches.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) issued Tiger with a show cause notice on March 23 giving the airline 21 days to respond, News Limited has reported.

CASA raised concerns the cut-price carrier was not following proper procedures to ensure the utmost safety of passengers, and demanded urgent answers amid concerns pilot training standards had slipped and short cuts had been taken on maintenance and other operations.

Ms Regan said the airline had a policy of not commenting on dealings with aviation regulators.

"However, last month, CASA asked Tiger to clarify certain matters, which Tiger has responded to promptly in full," she said.

"Safety underpins Tiger's operations at all times.

"Tiger continues to operate normally with CASA's approval."

Wayne Lee, whose father was crushed to death in an industrial accident 10 years ago, told radio 3AW today that his family had booked flights to Queensland two months ago and planned to scatter the ashes at Rainbow Beach tomorrow - his father's birthday.

He said his family had had trouble "letting go" of their father's ashes, but had finally made the decision to farewell him at the beach where the family holidayed in happier times.

But he, his mother and younger sister arrived at Melbourne Airport today to find the flight had been cancelled.

"They were pretty rude to us when we were there but they just said there's no flights at all today, and they couldn't put us on a flight tomorrow," he said.

"[Other airlines] seem to be going but we just can't afford the difference."

Ms Regan said disruptions occurred with all airlines occasionally, and Tiger worked hard to keep them to a minimum.

"Passengers have been offered a range of provisions to minimise the inconvenience and to assist them to get to where they are going as soon as possible," she said.

"These include free-of-charge transfer to another flight of their choice, full refund, credit to fly at another time and hotel accommodation compensation for non-residents of the location they are at.

"Due to Easter holidays, it's a busy period this week and weekend and Tiger will do all it can to prioritise affected passengers' alternate travel arrangements."
[/I]
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/travel-chaos-as-tiger-cancels-flights-20110421-1dp9l.html#ixzz1K75iaHz0

[Peter Agatsiotis]

So that's 3 cancellations from Melbourne. I assume they are still trying to clear up the mess from Tuesday's fiasco at SYD domestic terminal but the cancellations could be unrelated.

[NickN]

Unfortunately the information given by the media doesn't pinpoint exactly why the show cause notice was issued. What are the chances that CASA issued the notice purely based on speculation? Or would they have had to go through the maintenance records etc at Tiger in order to issue such a notice?

Can somebody with a firm understanding of that type of notice give some insight into what information CASA would need to serve it upon Tiger?

[Ash W]

What are the chances that CASA issued the notice purely based on speculation?

Zero. They are a government organisation that must adhere to a strict set of rules. There is no way they would do something like this based on speculation or rumor.

[Lukas M]

CASA has been picking apart Tiger for years now, there has been many goings on over the last few years which is the reason why deliveries have stalled. The result of a VERY overworked fleet running off a extremely tight schedule and a questionable management team has come back to bite them big time.

I wouldn't read much into it, for some reason the media think Tiger jets will come falling out the sky.

The show goes on....

[Sarah C]

I did find it amusing the media decided the airline was grounded because of what happened to Ansett.

[D Chan]

The show cause must have been something quite serious, for something less serious they issue Request for Corrective Actions. They don't issue show-causes unless they definitely have to, and make no mistake about it, it CAN ground an airline

http://www.casa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WCMS:STANDARD::pc=PC_91185

Where CASA has reason to believe that the holder of a civil aviation authorisation has engaged in, is engaging in, or is likely to engage in, conduct that constitutes, contributes to or results in a serious and imminent risk to air safety then the Authority retains the ability to take immediate action against the holder’s civil aviation authorisation/s.

Under the process: CASA may immediately suspend an authorisation upon receiving evidence that there is a serious and imminent risk to air safety;

Within five days of the suspension CASA must apply to the Federal Court for an order preventing the exercise of the authorisation for such period as the court considers necessary to enable CASA to complete an investigation;
If CASA obtains the order and, after the investigation, it believes it is necessary to do so, it may issue a show cause notice and may subsequently vary, suspend or cancel the relevant authorisation at the end of the show cause process (the authorisation remains suspended during the process). The affected party will be able to appeal to the AAT for a review of CASA’s decision.

[Steve S... 2]

Hi,

Flew on (or booked flights on) Tiger Airways three times. Two of them the flights were cancelled. A refund was due for both... one 18 months ago, and one 6 months ago... I am still waiting for both refunds and will take it further.

Regards,

Steve S.

[David Heath]

I'm still concerned that we don't know why the directive was issued. It makes CASA not seem very open and doesn't give us any reason to make a judgement. I've flown Tiger a few times and never had any delays or issues. I'd like to know why I shouldn't fly them, followed by when it will be resolved.

[Radi K]

what is the show cause for?

[Will H]

Does anyone have specifics on if/when CASA issued notices to JQ?