Tiger Airways eyes lease of more aircraft

Tiger Airways Philippines, the local unit of Singapore’s Tiger Airways Holdings, is acquiring additional aircraft next year as it expects to open up new international and local routes, the company’s top executive said late Tuesday.

Tiger Philippines CEO Olive Ramos told reporters that the airline, which operates a fleet of five medium-range Airbus A320s and A319s, could lease from Tiger Airways Holdings an additional two to three A320s in 2014.

Tiger Philippines earlier announced plans to expand its fleet to 25 aircraft in three to five years.

The airline announced Tuesday that it opened Manila-to-Phuket flights twice a week and it was now primarily looking at untapped markets in North Asia like Japan and South Korea, Ramos said.

Tiger Philippines was looking to have about 8,000 seat entitlements to and from Japan, Ramos said. She said the airline was expecting to fly daily to Tokyo, Fukuoka, Okinawa and Osaka.

“The market in Japan is quite big. The Japanese are also attracted to the Philippines,” she said.

South Korean destinations like Incheon, whose international airport serves Seoul, and Busan are also attractive expansion areas, she said.

The Philippines is set to resume air talks with its counterpart in Japan from September 11-13, the Civil Aeronautics Board announced earlier, which could lead to expanded air traffic between both countries. Miguel R. Camus