Tigerair a 'no brainer' for transtasman to complement Virgin Australia

An aviation expert is confident Virgin Australia will launch its low cost airline Tigerair across the Tasman next year. Peter Harbison, executive chairman of CAPA – Centre for Aviation, says he is "99.5% certain" that Tiger will come into the market. "It's almost a no brainer that they should move on to the Tasman," Harbison said. Virgin's group executive Rob Sharp last week held open the possibility of the budget carrier flying here. "It is an option trans-Tasman. We are first focused on bedding down the relaunch and raising brand awareness (of Virgin Australia) as our first priority," he said. "Tiger is an option to bring across - it's a part of our armoury but we're not rushing at doing this." Virgin Australia is going its own way across the Tasman from next weekend following an acrimonious break up with Air NZ, with which it had a joint venture for more than six years. Virgin is restoring full service including meals and bags as part of the ticket price throughout the plane to an expanded network from next weekend. This gave it scope to bring in its budget arm, said Harbison.<br/>