BY JAMES WILKINSON

Tiger Airways has shed a number of Queensland routes as part of a restructure aimed at restoring punctuality across the network.

Tiger has shed a number of major routes

Tiger Airways Australia CEO Crawford Rix said flights from Melbourne to Mackay and Rockhampton would be suspended from August 1, as would flights from Sydney to Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.

“These network changes will both streamline and simplify our Australian operations, enabling us to focus on combining our low fares with improved punctuality,” Rix said.

He said the move to suspend the airline’s flights to Mackay and Rockhampton was due to rising oil prices and the recent natural disasters in Queensland, while the Sydney flights to destinations north of the border had faced punctuality issues because of the lack of a crew base in New South Wales or Queensland.

“We know that our customers expect an on-time flight as well as a great fare from Tiger Airways,” Rix said. “The changes that we are making to our flying programme will enable as to improve punctuality across our network and we are hopeful that as we grow the airline we will be able to restore services on the affected routes in the near future.”

The Tiger route suspensions came a day after the airline announced a shake-up of Melbourne-based services, with services from Avalon Airport to Adelaide, Brisbane and the Gold Coast being shifted to the more popular and convenient Tullamarine Airport.

“Put very simply, the changes reflect a combination of market demand, normal aviation business practice and commercial reality: a strong return fuels future growth,” Rix said.

Tiger will continue to fly to Perth and Sydney from Avalon Airport, with services to the Harbour City also increased to thrice-daily.