Tigerair Australia clears capacity hurdle for Bali flights

Tigerair Australia’s plans to begin overseas flights in 2016 have taken a step forward after the International Air Services Commission (IASC) approved the transfer of capacity from parent Virgin Australia for its services to Bali.

The low-cost carrier is scheduled to fly to Bali from Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne from March 2016, taking over routes currently flown by its parent Virgin.

Virgin applied to the IASC in early September seeking to vary its capacity allocation to Indonesia to facilitate the transfer of the three routes from Virgin Australia International Airlines (VAI) to its low-cost unit Tigerair.

Qantas had said in a submission that “questions remain about the basis upon which the VAI subsidiary can meet the various requirements necessary to utilise an allocation of capacity”.

However, Virgin said in response to the Qantas submission its application complied with all necessary requirements under the relevant legislation.

The IASC said in its decision published on Friday it was satisfied Tigerair was capable of obtaining the necessary approvals to fly to Indonesia and operate the flights.

“The Commission considers that Tigerair’s proposed services between Australia and Denpasar will likely benefit consumers as Tigerair’s presence on the Indonesia route will likely promote competition on this popular route,” the IASC said.

The IASC said advice from the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development said Tigerair “complies with the relevant ownership and control requirements of the Air Navigation Act 1920 as well as the requirements for designation as an Australian international airline”.

“The Department further advised that on 3 August 2015, the Department formally designated Tigerair under the Australia-Indonesia air services arrangements.”

Tigerair’s Bali flights take off from March 23, with five flights a week from Adelaide, daily from Melbourne and eight times a week from Perth with a fleet of three Boeing 737-800 aircraft sourced from Virgin.