Difficult To Recover From Grounding For Safety Reasons

An analysts at the Melbourne Business School says Tiger Airways faces a very high hurdle to regain the publics' trust after being grounded for safety reasons by CASA. MBS Associate Professor of Business Strategy Doug Dow said Tiger will have a very difficult time convincing people it is safe to fly, and that he could not recall any major carrier that had successfully done so.

CASA allowed Tiger to resume limited operations last week, but it is restricted to nine round-trip flights per day, and only the Melbourne base is operating for the time being. Dow said that even if the airline does everything right, there is now a perception of the carrier as an unsafe operation, and "consumers will do what they believe and please."

The Wall Street Journal reports that Dow, a former aviation engineer, says that Tigers' low fares could lead consumers to think the airline was cutting corners, and that a 10 percent drop in volume could cripple the airline beyond its ability to recover. He said once consumers have been "frightened", it is difficult to convince them that the airline is safe.

FMI: www.tigerairways.com