Tiger Airways to fly from Melbourne’s Avalon Airport
April 20th, 2010 by Tim Uden
Low-cost carrier Tiger Airways Australia (the Australian branch of Singapore-based Tiger Airways) has announced that it will start flying from Melbourne’s smaller Avalon Airport in addition to Melbourne International Airport (Tullamarine).
Tiger Airways is the focus of the Australian TV show Air Ways, which is very similar to the UK television series Airline. It is the most budget orientated of Australia’s low-cost airlines. It is strict about late check ins and follows the budget airline model of cheap seats sold online with a yield-management pricing structure with additional charges for luggage, food and advance seat selection. But up till now it hadn’t been big on using secondary airports (although it did start flying into Newcastle and the Gold Coast before Sydney and Brisbane).
I’m surprised it took Tiger so long to start flying from Avalon. True budget airlines like to cut corners by choosing an out-of-the-way airport to save money, even though the cost for passengers to get to the airport may be considerably more.
One of the worst examples is Ryanair’s alternative to Frankfurt Airport. Instead of Frankfurt, Ryanair flies into Frankfurt-Hahn, which is 125km from Frankfurt and probably as you far as you can get from a train station in Germany. Ryanair’s alternatives to Barcelona are airports at Reus (near Tarragona) and Girona. Add on the additional cost of getting to one of these airports and it can often work out cheaper taking a more expensive airline directly into Barcelona.
Not all secondary airports are bad, though. London’s Luton Airport is less congested than Heathrow, and train connections mean that it’s only half an hour from central London. In the United States, Southwest has a hub at Chicago Midway and JetBlue flies to Long Beach: both less congested alternatives to Chicago O’Hare and LAX.
Avalon Airport is around a 45-minute drive southwest of Melbourne, just north of Geelong. That’s about twice as far from the city centre as Melbourne International Airport. The bus to the airport costs $4 more if you’re going to Avalon, so while it saves the airline money (hopefully resulting in lower fares) it will cost you a little extra to get there.
Avalon Airport is currently used by Jetstar (the low-cost airline owned by Qantas) and regional carrier Sharp Airlines.
Tiger will base two new Airbus A320 aircraft at Avalon, however their press release announcing the new base doesn’t say which destinations will be served from Avalon. Tiger will instead put a voting button on their website asking customers where they want to fly to from the airport.
Tiger will continue to operate from its base at Melbourne International Airport, although at Melbourne Airport it uses the frugal Terminal 4 (aka the Tiger Cage), which has a more low-cost image to Avalon’s relatively new terminal.
Although it’s not huge news, it is good to have more flights from Avalon and competition from a secondary airport means that Melbourne is generally a cheaper airport to fly from than Sydney.
View Comments to “Tiger Airways to fly from Melbourne’s Avalon Airport”
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June 9th, 2010 at 6.39 am
Secondary airports serve as good supplement to the main airport to reduce congestion to some extent. And many kinds of these airports have better connectivity to public transport.
June 25th, 2010 at 9.38 pm
Tiger are purely looking for places to park aircraft. The Avalon venture would obviously achieve this, because…where else can they park them. Melbourne Airport might need a wakeup call and make Tiger room, because what essentially goes to Avalon is Tullamarine’s loss. Tiger would not be going into Avalon if Mr Woodruff made space for Tiger to expand as they clearly have bigger intentions than previously thought. We can propose you the essay purchase to do your topic referring to this good post hot.
Interesting to see on Tiger’s homepage under the FAQ’s, a new section about Webcheckin…
June 25th, 2010 at 9.40 pm
Avalon isn’t all that convenient depending where you live and or what time you are traveling. East and north of the CBD, depending how close to the Dandenongs, Tulla is easier to get to.
West or Northish depending where you are Avalon could be better. Avalon is good for the booming growth areas of Brimbank and Werribee and also not forgetting Geelong and Ballaarat. editing services
July 14th, 2010 at 4.56 am
Low cost airlines are the way to go! Hidden charges keep you from worrying, snug seating keeps you from rattling around on board. Don't bother with those fancy airlines!
Robert E. Coli
CEO Thromby Air – Lowest of the Low
http://www.thrombyair.com
July 29th, 2010 at 6.56 pm
and they bring the pollution of nature even in the last little village…
October 25th, 2010 at 5.28 am
Avalon is good for the booming growth areas of Brimbank and Werribee and also not forgetting Geelong and Ballaarat. nnn
December 13th, 2010 at 11.50 am
Thanks for the information..How long does it take from melbourne tullermarine airport to Melbourne Avalon airport by taxi (cab) ?nWhat is the fare for it..Any approx idea?
January 24th, 2011 at 1.01 pm
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April 16th, 2011 at 9.30 am
Nice one . . .
April 16th, 2011 at 9.49 am
Why did this come up in twitter like a year later??nnOld news.
September 18th, 2011 at 10.32 pm
I like to take the stress out traveling and leave the details to the pros. You can check the parking fees ahead of time and see the deals available. It couldn’t be easier. No more waiting for someone to pick you up while you drag your luggage around waiting for your ride.
September 18th, 2011 at 10.33 pm
So I wound up staying the night at the Ramada Phila Airport Hotel, they had a secured longterm parking lot separate from the normal hotel parking, and they really took care of getting me to the airport on time. The driver was friendly and courteous, and helped me with my bags, and I got a good night’s sleep to boot