Tiger Airways Melbourne-Sydney service launched

Tiger Airways Australia, the low-cost airline based in Melbourne, Australia, has launched a new service between the Australian cities of Melbourne and Sydney.  Tiger Airways will fly 4 services daily between Sydney and Melbourne, which is the third busiest air travel route in the world.

The new Tiger Airways’ service between Melbourne and Sydney virtually ends the monopoly of Qantas Airways and Virgin Blue on the Melbourne-Sydney route.

In a statement, Tiger Airways said the airline expects to add over 500,000 visitor seats a year between Sydney and Melbourne.

Shelley Roberts, managing director of Tiger Airways, said in the statement, that the airline’s foray into the Melbourne-Sydney route was in response to the “overwhelming customer feedback in both cities.”

The fare for Tiger Airways’ Melbourne-Sydney flights will start from $39 (one way, tax and charges included.) This low fare, Shelley Roberts said, would make air travel accessible to more people in Australia.

Tiger Airways Australia, an offshoot of Singapore Airlines, started operations from Melbourne Airport in Victoria, Australia, in November 2007. At present, the carrier has 4 Airbus A320 planes that fly to 11 destinations from Melbourne.

The airline said it was planning to increase the number of its domestic routes – which currently number 17 – starting with a daily flight from Sydney to Adelaide by the end of July 2009.

According to Shelley Roberts, the company was aiming to raise its fleet strength to 30 planes from the present 6 planes, by 2014.