SINGAPORE: Having flown 5.1 million passengers in FY15, an increase of 1.4 per cent from the previous year, Singapore-based budget airline Tigerair has set its sights on further expanding its footprint in emerging markets like India.
Underscoring the importance of the Indian market to Tigerair’s expansion plans, its Director, Sales and Marketing, TehYikChuan, told Express, “We are eager to tap into the growing middle income group’s travel potential here. We recently forayed into North India with the commencement of our Singapore-Lucknow route and also announced additional flights on the Singapore-Hyderabad and Singapore-Tiruchy routes.”
Tigerair carried over 6 lakh passengers on Indian routes in 2015.
On challenges being faced by the carrier in the Indian market, YikChuan said, “Appreciation of the US dollar against the Indian Rupee is a challenge for us. Currently our tickets are priced in USD, and we are working towards receiving INR in the coming year. We are also looking forward to further liberalisation of traffic rights in order to bring our services to more points.”
As a budget airline, Tigerair’s unique selling proposition (USP) is, of course, affordable air travel. But it seeks to distinguish itself from its competitors by endeavouring to provide low-cost air travel without compromising on mainstream flight amenities or cutting back on value-added services that frequent flyers enjoy, such as seat selection, automatic transfer of baggage during transit, access to premium lounge and provision to book hotel rooms and car rentals.
Just over a decade since Tigerair came into being, it has rapidly expanded its operations to cover as many as 41 destinations spread across 12 countries in Asia.
The “no frills” carrier, which entered the Indian skies in 2007, currently operates 44 weekly flights to 6 Indian cities – Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi, Tiruchy and Lucknow.
(The trip was arranged by Tigerair)