The low-cost airline increase 17 domestic routes

The low cost airline today begins flying on the world's third busiest route with four flights daily and is already looking to increase its 17 domestic routes, with a daily flight from Sydney to Adelaide from the end of the month.Tiger Australia managing director Shelley Roberts was tight lipped about the airline's other possible destinations but said the company aimed to increase its fleet to 30 aircraft from its present six by 2014. She said unlike most airlines worldwide, Tiger, an off-shoot of Singapore Airlines, had benefited from the economic crisis because it had established a reputation of having the cheapest fares.It has hurt customer finances so people are counting their pennies and embracing the low cost model.

Ms Roberts said the carrier's low fares, starting at $39 on the Sydney to Melbourne route, would make air travel accessible to more Australians.Tiger flies in to Melbourne's main Tullamarine airport, unlike Qantas offshoot Jetstar, which most often uses Avalon airport, about 55km from Melbourne.We're bringing air travel to everyday people, Ms Roberts said. We've had people fly with us who've never been able to afford travel before.Ms Roberts brushed aside criticism of the airline's customer service, saying travellers needed to get used to the Tiger way.We need to educate people about what we need to do to offer such low fares, she said. What's most important is that they can travel from A to B quickly, cheaply and safely.

It's like Ryanair, which has 20million more customers than Qantas and is hugely profitable but provides the lowest fares in Europe.Tiger talked up achieving the highest rating in value for money in this year's Choice customer satisfaction survey, but the survey showed the airline was last in all but one other category and had by far the lowest overall rating at only 55 per cent.
Some complaints included the lack of an Australian call centre, which Ms Roberts said the airline had now rectified.Before its inaugural flight to Sydney yesterday, Tiger announced a sponsorship deal with the Wests Tigers NRL team during a press conference launching the new route.

Sydney Airport chief executive Russell Balding said Tiger's arrival emphasised the importance of the airport to the economy.Sydney is Australia's biggest tourist attraction and this is great news for Sydney and a vote of confidence in the future development of Sydney airport.