Scoot, Tigerair Australia In Talks Campbell Wilson: "We have grown exceptionally fast and we are catching our breath." Photo: Jim Rice Singapore Airlines' budget offshoot, Scoot, has opened the door to a tie-up with Tigerair Australia following Virgin Australia gaining control of the latter. A year after it began flying, Scoot has begun preliminary talks with Tigerair Australia about forming a relationship, but said it was too early to say what a deal was likely to entail. "We haven't closed out any option," said Scoot chief executive Campbell Wilson. But Mr Wilson admitted a first step would be replicating the arrangement Scoot has with Tigerair Singapore, which involves exchanging billing rates to allow travellers to connect to each airline's destinations. We don't yet offer something similar with Tigerair Australia, but I think there's mutual interest in doing so. It's just that we have had our priorities and they have had their priorities," he said. Mr Wilson met his counterpart at Tigerair Australia, Rob Sharp, on Thursday. Mr Wilson made it clear he was not interested in forming a code-share deal because he believed the benefits of such an arrangement were questionable. Deeper co-operation would also require regulatory approval. Scoot and Tigerair Australia have indirect links through their controlling shareholders. Singapore Airlines has a 20 per cent stake in Virgin, which completed the purchase of a 60 per cent stake in Tigerair Australia last month. After launching 10 routes within a year of its launch, Scoot has pressed the pause button on its expansion while it awaits the delivery of the first of 20 Boeing 787 Dreamliners late next year. "We have grown exceptionally fast and we are catching our breath," he said. Mr Wilson said the long-haul budget airline remained interested in launching flights to Melbourne, and possibly Perth, once its next phase of growth begins in 2015 with its new planes. Scoot was more likely to open a new route than to increase flight frequencies on its two existing Australian routes. The airline operates daily services to Sydney and five flights a week to the Gold Coast from Singapore. Mr Wilson would not disclose specific yields - returns on fares - on those routes nor when he expected Scoot to break even. "The yields have come up significantly since we started - off a low base, obviously, but we are comfortable with where we are," he said.