Le Bourget, Paris: Singapore's fast growing low-fare carrier, Tiger Airways, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for an additional 30 Airbus A320s, with options for a further 20. The MoU was signed at the 47th edition of the Paris Air Show.
Tiger Airways currently operates a fleet of nine A320s, and has 11 more on order for delivery by 2010. The latest order will take Tiger Airways' fleet to 70 Airbus aircraft when deliveries are fully made.
The airline will deploy the A320s on its regional network in South East Asia, which currently extends to 15 cities in seven countries. They will also serve its new operations within Australia starting later in 2007.
Tiger Airways' A320s will be configured in a 180-seat, all-economy configuration. A choice of engines for the aircraft is yet to be made.
"Tiger Airways is enjoying impressive growth, and we are expanding our aircraft fleet to meet continued strong demand for affordable air travel across the Asia Pacific region. The new order will take our total fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft to 70, making Tiger Airways one of the region's largest A320 operators," said Tony Davis, chief executive officer of Tiger Airways.
"In just two years, Tiger Airways has developed into a formidable success story, and we are delighted they did it with our aircraft and are continuing to expand with Airbus jetliners. The A320 is undoubtedly the world's favourite single-aisle aircraft, offering superb economics and high passenger appeal," said John Leahy, Airbus chief operating officer, customers.
The latest A320 order by Tiger Airways confirms the outstanding popularity of the A320 Family with both established and start-up low-cost carriers (LCC) in the Asia Pacific region over the past few years. LCCs in Australia, China, India, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore have ordered more than 300 A320 Family aircraft during the past three years.
Almost 560 A320 Family aircraft are already in service with more than 40 airlines across the region.