Tiger’s wings about to be clipped?
What’s going on with Tiger?
A Special Report by Urban Globetrotter
After bursting onto the Australian domestic air travel scene just a few short years ago, budget Airline Tiger Airways has never been too far away from controversy and always elicits a love or hate response from travellers.
From the beginning and especially in more recent times, Airline industry sources have claimed the sector has been rife with rumours about Tiger which is owned by Singapore Airlines.
The low-cost airline has triggered a price war with Qantas and Virgin forcing them to drop their domestic fares by 30 per cent. Since its 2007 entry to Australia, Tiger has targeted the tourism market and undercut its rivals with a range of “special” fares including 1c flights. This has been a boon for the local market and is a far cry from the completely and totally uncompetitive duopoly of the 1980’s when the choice was either Qantas or TAA.
However, Tigers introduction has also raised concerns that its profitability was taking priority over passenger safety and pilot training. Tiger has consistently ranked as the worst of the major airlines and had just a 72 per cent “on time” record for last year.
READ THE WHOLE REPORT AFTER THE JUMP
Just a few weeks ago it faced serious allegations over its commitment to maintenance and flight operations, when in a shock move and for the first time in a decade, CASA (the Civil Aviation Safety Authority) launched a major action against the airline, known as a ‘Show-Cause’. It seems that the notice was traced back to a final straw incident last year and has accused TIGER Airways of flying a jet for eight months with a faulty wing before the problem was reported.
A report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau says the fault was reported only after the Airbus A320, carrying 125 passengers, began to shake continuously during a Melbourne-bound flight in May last year.
The report says the problem should have been reported eight months earlier, when another pilot was forced to turn back to Melbourne. Investigators found Tiger failed to comply with the Transport Safety Investigation Act by not reporting the earlier incident. The report into the second incident attributed the fault to a valve controlling the movement of the flaps on the trailing edge of the left wing.
Investigators said the valve was adjusted incorrectly when the plane was built in 2007, causing undue wear in the flap-control mechanism. The wing flaps, known as ailerons, are hinged surfaces that move up and down on the wings in flight to increase or reduce the varying degrees of lift required by the pilot.
In its report, the safety bureau gave a detailed picture of the incident, telling how the Tiger aircraft left Mackay for Melbourne on May 18 last year with 125 passengers and six crew. During the flight, a cautionary message appeared in the cockpit, warning of a flight control problem. The crew said there appeared to be no problem.
But the report says once the jet reached 35,000ft, a “light, continuous shaking became evident within the aircraft”. Ten minutes into the flight, the flight manager reported to the pilot the left wing was “moving up and down”. A subsequent check by the co-pilot confirmed the flight manager’s report.
“He identified to the pilot in charge that the left aileron was moving up and down continuously and that the left wing was moving up and down through about one metre,” the report says. The pilot decided to divert to the Gold Coast.
Tiger has denied the jet flew for eight months with a faulty wing. A spokeswoman said the first incident was not safety related and it was considered inappropriate to report the event. The regulator noted that Airbus had found a new way to adjust the hydraulic valve.
CASA has said it “does not comment on show-cause notices”. But it has given Tiger 21 days from the time it served the notice to respond to the log of claims. A Show Cause Notice is essentially a please explain and can form the basis of suspending an airlines ability to fly in Australia.
The explosive revelations come at a bad time for a sector battling soaring fuel costs and forecasts of reduced profits. A high Australian Dollar, Queensland’s deadly floods and Cyclone Yasi have also triggered a slump in tourism numbers, adding to the sombre outlook for the airline industry and Destination Australia in a greater sense.
The tough market has forced Tiger to defer new aircraft to bolster its fleet of 10 planes flying between the major capital cities and tourism havens such as Cairns and the Sunshine Coast.
The revelations mean Tiger’s management will almost certainly be dragged before a parliamentary inquiry into pilot training and airline safety. The Senate committee has heard serious allegations of cost-cutting by airlines, many of which are struggling to stay afloat.
Tiger has described the airline’s approach as “getting a customer from A to B with the lowest possible fare we can get them at, doing it efficiently, getting them there on time”. But for the past two years, it was last in the CHOICE survey of domestic airlines. It has about 100 flights a week in Australia but many customers have complained of lengthy delays and regular cancellations, which culminated in a disastrous Easter period where 1000’s of passengers were left stranded across the country, with little explanation.
Tiger spokeswoman Vanessa Regan has told ABC Local Radio there is no safety risk.
“Where there is a not a serious and imminent risk to safety, one action that CASA can take is to issue a show cause notice,” she said. “Basically what they’ve done is they’ve asked for a few corrective measures - those were implemented. “There is no cause for concern. CASA has taken no action.
“We continue to operate and we want to reassure our customers that there is no risk to safety and we continue as normal.” “If CASA had any concerns they would certainly shut us down. That hasn’t occurred. We continue to operate with CASA’s approval.”
Meanwhile, CASA is reviewing Tiger’s response.
Cutting Corners
Captain Richard Woodward from the Australian and International Pilots Association says there are concerns about standards slipping across the industry.
“Pilot training is quite expensive and like all these things, when you’re cutting costs or building a low-cost carrier, you look at every cost,” he said. “These days, training is pitched at the minimum necessary to meet the regulatory compliance, not necessarily at the level where a pilot would feel comfortable or that will develop their skills.”
It has also be claimed that Jet Star has been cutting corners with its pilot training and ground crew in a bid to reduce costs as well. Recently, Sydney Morning Herald reported that the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam had slammed unsafe practices by Jetstar Pacific Airlines, part-owned by Qantas. According to the report, maintenance staff were not supervised properly due to cost-cutting and often took shortcuts with repairs and other maintenance tasks. Three senior staff were suspended in the wake of the report.
The airline told the Herald it “remains confident of its engineering and safety record”, but having travelled in Vietnam on a Jetstar flight it was obvious that the planes were old, dirty and certainly not as well looked after as one would expect. The plane made huge shaking movements and noises on take-off and landing and the customer service was dismal, oh and when was the last time you saw cigarettes in ash trays on the arm rests on your flight?
Is Discounting good for us?
It seems that the introduction of Tiger has sparked a race to the bottom in Australia’s Airline Wars. Tiger Airways took to our skies offering seats for less than a can of beer and Jet star often floods the market with extra cheap seats. All of this is great for us travellers with ticket prices plummeting but its ultimately unsustainable, something has to give and it seems safety it the something. Let’s hope not.
All of this comes on the back of new announcements from Virgin changing its name, cutting routes and even pulling out of an under-performing New Zealand domestic market altogether due to financial concerns. Air New Zealand said it will take over carrying Virgin’s disrupted passengers.
After numerous problems, Virgin Australia has seen its bleak future and has decided to overhaul its entire operation in a bid to get away from the Tiger and Jet star battle by focussing on cutting into Qantas’ business travel market. This implies that it’s future as a discount or Low Cost Carrier are numbered.
In Aisa where Tiger has a major foot hold on the market, it now faces very stiff competition from Air Asia, who arguably offer better service, new aircraft as well as great prices. Jet Star has also increased its presence in the region putting even more pressure on Tiger to continue cutting costs.
So what’s the solution? It seems that with increasing fuel costs, lower passenger numbers it’s only a matter of time that there some consolidation in the market.
When it comes to air travel, is the discount option always the best? With all these issues the average traveller has a right to be a little concerned about the Tiger situation. Whilst it should be noted that Tiger continues to operate normally with CASA’s approval, the fact that your life for any given flight rests in the hands of the airline you choose is it a worry that there might be some major corner cutting going on or are the costs saved elsewhere?
Or is this just an indication that the other ”non-budget” airlines have been over-charging for so long? How can there be such a huge disparity between costs to the same destination?
You do have to ask yourself does a free muffin and a pair of headphones really make up the cost difference?
Ultimately it’s up to all of us to make an informed decision on who we choose to fly with weighing up the pros and cons of comfort, convenience and price but when it comes to safety you only get one life and it’s hard to put a price on that.
So what’s your take, have you had any problems flying Tiger?
What’s your favourite low cost airline?
Got something to add? Then please do! Just drop us an email at: urbanglobetrotter@gmail.com
or Join the conversation over on Twitter!
