ASIA - National air carrier Thai Airways and Singapore’s Tiger Airways have partnered to create a low-cost airline called Thai Tiger.
The joint venture will launch early next year and fly to destinations within five hours flight time from its base at Bangkok International Suvarnabhumi Airport, which includes Vietnam and Cambodia.
The new carrier will go against a wave of recent low-cost additions to the Asian region, Malaysian carrier Air Asia and Qantas’ Jetstar. Tiger Airways CEO, Tony Davis, and president of Thai Airways, Piyasvasti Amranand, hope the new venture will reclaim a market share of passengers lost when the other low-cost carriers were introduced.
“We believe this move will provide revenue opportunities for Thai Airways and allow it to be more competitive in the region with the anticipated growth in the low-cost market as a result of continued Asean air liberalisation policies, which we expect will lead to growth in air travel in the Asian market,” says Amranand.
Thai Airways, which is to hold three of the five seats on the board of directors and the chairmanship, is to take a 51 per cent share of the new airline.
