Tigerair Australia’s entire force of 220 pilots will be sacked

Tigerair Australia’s entire force of 220 pilots will be sacked by the end of this week, according to the pilots’ union. Tigerair’s parent company, Virgin Australia, hasn’t publicly swung the ax yet, saying it is “working through various options.” But the Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFAP) says they have been advised the pilots will be laid off at the end of this week.

It would also likely mark the end of Virgin Australia’s ill-fated dalliance operating the notoriously unreliable low-cost carrier. Virgin Australia has long been involved with the airline. It took 100% ownership in 2015 when it infamously bought the last 40% stake in the airline of Tiger Airways Holdings for AUD$1.

But Tigerair Australia has failed to gain much traction with the traveling public. It has long been constrained by the size of its fleet, lack of profitability, issues of reliability and poor public perception. Virgin Australia has never integrated it into the parent company’s operations the way Qantas has successfully done with Jetstar.

Tigerair Australia has long been dogged by problems and poor public perception
Tigerair Australia’s prospects have also never been helped by continuing speculation about its future. When there was a change of guard in the top job at Virgin Australia last year, new CEO Paul Scurrah maintained Tigerair Australia had a future. As recently as February, Mr Scurrah said Tigerair Australia was a “very important part of our future”.

Not a lot of faith was put into those assurances and that lack of faith appears to be confirmed as Virgin Australia makes its move on Tiger Australia this week. The move comes as Virgin Australia confirmed it had approached the Australian government seeking a USD$860 million bailout loan to ensure the ongoing viability of the airline.