Tigerair draws a line under long-running pilot pay dispute

Pilots say the struggling budget airline Tigerair will be able to focus on renewing its fleet and hiring new aircrew now that it has settled a long-running pay dispute. Marathon enterprise bargaining negotiations at the carrier have been running for over two years, with the impasse leading to a stop work in January that caused 15 flights to be either cancelled or rescheduled. But the deadlock was broken in March, when the airline and the two unions representing pilots reached an in-principal agreement. The Fair Work Commission approved the new agreement on May 28, and it took affect on June 4. Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFAP) industrial officer Patrick Larkins said pay increases in the agreement bring Tigerair pilots' pay closer to that of pilots at other airlines, and that "a fair deal has been reached for both Tigerair pilots and the company". “This resolution frees up management to focus on getting Tigerair’s fleet transition to the B737 from the A320 organised properly and to recruit pilots using the competitive salaries and conditions now on offer," Larkins said. Tigerair is phasing out 11 A320s from its fleet and moving to an entirely Boeing 737 operation, which will come with simpler maintenance costs. Four 737s have been sourced from its parent airline, Virgin Australia. But the time-frame is expected to have been blown out by Virgin pushing back its own fleet renewal, by the delay to the delivery of its first 737 MAX aircraft from November to mid-2021. With 15 aircraft flying to 13 destinations, Tigerair is dwarfed by its direct low-cost competitor Jetstar, which has about 120 planes flying across Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific.<br/>