Tiger Airways wants to raise fuel surcharge

AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Tiger Airways Philippines wants to hike its fuel surcharge for three international routes, a filing with the Civil Aeronautics Board showed.

The request covered routes from Clark to Singapore, Kalibo to Singapore and Clark to Bangkok.

The airline currently imposes a uniform fuel surcharge of P500.

In its petition, Tiger Airways wants to increase the Clark to Singapore surcharge to P800. From Clark to Bangkok, it wants P850, and from Kalibo to Singapore, it is seeking P900.

Fuel surcharges form part of an airline’s ticket cost and is a tool granted by the government to help airlines recover part of their fuel expenses.

CAB said that a hearing has been scheduled on Aug. 6.

Tiger Airways Philippines recently announced plans to boost its fleet of medium-range Airbus A320s and A319s from the current five aircraft to 25 in three to five years.

It said revenues for the year could hit P5 billion—about three times higher than that of 2012, as it adds planes and routes.

On July 18, the company will start its Kalibo to Singapore route.

The addition of new planes, meanwhile, will allow Tiger Philippines to expand its presence in the country and overseas, Tiger Airways Philippines CEO Olive Ramos said in a previous interview.

Ramos said the airline would want to fly “to every major city in the Philippines,” as well as key destinations abroad.

The company, considered a new player in the local airline industry, has a market share of about 3 percent, she said.