Tiger Air: Thai Airways has approved in principle a plan to set up a new mid-tier airline, provisionally called Thai Wing, expected to start operations within the region and on some domestic routes in Mar/ Apr 2012.
The wholly owned mid-tier carrier will operate with 7 planes (all leased) -- 5 Boeing 737s and 2 other aircraft -- in the 1st yr and aims to have a fleet of 11 within 3 yrs...
Its schedule will cover journeys with an avg flight time of 2.5 - 3.0 hrs, while the target load factors are in the 70-80% range.
In 2010, Thai Airways formed an alliance with Tiger Air to form a budget carrier Thai Tiger Airways (TTA), but the launch has been delayed for another 2-3 mths from May, pending approval for a THB 99m invmt from the Transport Ministry and the National Economic and Social Devt Board...
While Thai mgt said the new mid-tier airline was not a budget carrier and its operations should not overlap with those of TTA, this devt still means that Thai Airways may now have less incentive to push through the TTA JV with Tiger Air.
Tiger has been actively seeking overseas partnerships to drive growth, particularly as it faces headwinds in Australia, and a slew of aircraft slated for delivery till 2015. 9 more aircraft are expected to be added to the fleet of 26 for this fiscal year...
Post the recent FYMar11 results brief, Street has mixed ratings with wide TP range btwn $1.32 – 1.90.
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