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http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/10/02/thousands-stranded-as-tiger-air-cancels-flights/
Thousands stranded as Tiger Air cancels flights
By yahoosingapore – October 2nd, 2010
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Thousands of passengers have been stranded after budget airline Tiger Airways cancelled almost half its flights out of Singapore due to technical faults with its aircrafts.
The Straits Times reports that up to 40 flights in the past four days have been scrapped with Channel News Asia reporting that up to 2,700 passengers may have been affected.
The cancellations in the past few days affected flights to places like Kuala Lumpur, Chennai, Macau, Perth, Penang, Phuket and Bangkok.
In response, the Singapore-based budget carrier said two of its Airbus A320 aircraft had experienced technical issues over the past few weeks, and were grounded for extended checks and maintenance.
The carrier says this resulted in significant disruption to its flight schedule.
Passengers, however, felt the airline could have done a much better job informing them earlier via mobile phone or email.
Cancellations were only indicated on the website of the Changi Airport online flight information system and many passengers who turned up at the airport were caught unawares.
Sharlene Lim, 27, whose flight to Hong Kong was delayed by nine hours on Thursday, told ST, “This is my second time flying with Tiger Airways and it will be my last.”
As late as this Saturday morning, hundreds of frustrated passengers at Singapore’s Budget Terminal were enraged when they learned their flights had also been cancelled with no prior notice.
Passengers were made to wait in line for their turn before counter-staff addressed their concerns and compensation issues.
Derek Sadubin of Sydney-based aviation consultancy, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, told the same paper that budget carriers have little excess capacity because of their low-cost business model.
As a result, he said they strive to maximise asset utilisation and “tend to feel the impact of aircraft technical issues more acutely.”
Thousands stranded as Tiger Air cancels flights
By yahoosingapore – October 2nd, 2010
Email Facebook Twitter Print
yahoo_tigerairways
Thousands of passengers have been stranded after budget airline Tiger Airways cancelled almost half its flights out of Singapore due to technical faults with its aircrafts.
The Straits Times reports that up to 40 flights in the past four days have been scrapped with Channel News Asia reporting that up to 2,700 passengers may have been affected.
The cancellations in the past few days affected flights to places like Kuala Lumpur, Chennai, Macau, Perth, Penang, Phuket and Bangkok.
In response, the Singapore-based budget carrier said two of its Airbus A320 aircraft had experienced technical issues over the past few weeks, and were grounded for extended checks and maintenance.
The carrier says this resulted in significant disruption to its flight schedule.
Passengers, however, felt the airline could have done a much better job informing them earlier via mobile phone or email.
Cancellations were only indicated on the website of the Changi Airport online flight information system and many passengers who turned up at the airport were caught unawares.
Sharlene Lim, 27, whose flight to Hong Kong was delayed by nine hours on Thursday, told ST, “This is my second time flying with Tiger Airways and it will be my last.”
As late as this Saturday morning, hundreds of frustrated passengers at Singapore’s Budget Terminal were enraged when they learned their flights had also been cancelled with no prior notice.
Passengers were made to wait in line for their turn before counter-staff addressed their concerns and compensation issues.
Derek Sadubin of Sydney-based aviation consultancy, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, told the same paper that budget carriers have little excess capacity because of their low-cost business model.
As a result, he said they strive to maximise asset utilisation and “tend to feel the impact of aircraft technical issues more acutely.”
Alot of their problems is that there is no SOP in place. Many of the PR damage seem to be done by people who are clueless as to how to deal with problems 
