Australian Budget airline Tiger Air is no more

Virgin Australia is to cut about 3000 jobs and dump the low-budget Tigerair brand under its new ownership.

Virgin Australia's new owners Bain Capital have announced they are resting the Tigerair brand in Australia, leaving just one low-cost airline in the country. Virgin Australia chief executive Paul Scurrah confirmed the moves in an announcement to the ASX on Wednesday morning.

The airline, now owned by US private equity giant Bain Capital, said it would try to save about 6000 jobs under its plan to become a “stronger, more profitable and competitive business”.

In an announcement to shareholders this morning, Virgin Australia said its budget offering would be sidelined until there were enough customers to warrant reviving it.

"The Tigerair brand will be discontinued in the market as there is not sufficient customer demand to support two brands at this time," the announcement read.

“Our aviation and tourism sectors face continued uncertainty in the face of COVID-19, with many Australian airports recording passenger numbers less than 3 per cent of last year and ongoing changes to government travel restrictions,” Mr Scurrah said.

“Demand for domestic and short-haul international travel is likely to take at least three years to return to pre-COVID levels, with the real chance it could be longer.”

He said that mean Virgin must make changes to ensure it succeeded “in this new world”.

Virgin will also retire its Boeing 777s, Airbus A330s and Tigerair’s Airbus 320s, and long-haul international flights will remain suspended until world travel recovers.

It will retain the Boeing 737s and regional and charter aircraft.

Source AAP