Tigerair Australia has inked a long-term partnership with AJW Aviation for delivering support services on its fleet of 13 Airbus A320 aircraft.
The contract will include complete inventory technical management for components, major assemblies, wheels and brakes, auxiliary power units, thrust reversers and consumables, Tigerair and AJW said in a joint statement on Monday.
The tie-up with Tigerair was AJW’s first major contract in Australia and comes on top of the company’s strategic supplier relationship with Air New Zealand that was forged in 2013.
AJW said Tigerair would also benefit from the specialist capabilities provided by Air NZ’s TechOps repair stations in Auckland and Christchurch.
Tigerair chief executive Rob Sharp said the airline was focused on building a more efficient operating platform as part of its three-year transformation program.
“Tigerair is not only committed to sustaining affordable air travel for our customers throughout Australia, but also to ensuring we have a seamless travel experience that they enjoy,” Sharp said.
“This new partnership with AJW enables us to build on our progress to date as an efficient and reliable carrier that brings strong competition to the budget air carrier market.”
AJW chief executive Boris Wolstenholme said Tigerair would be supported by the company’s Singapore office.
The chief technical officer of AJW Group Deepak Sharma said the company had more than 500 aircraft under power-by-the-hour contracts, as well as 20 million flight hours of fleet and component reliability data.
Separately, BAE Systems recently marked the one-year anniversary of providing base and line maintenance for the Tigerair fleet.
BAE, whose maintenance team has grown to more than 65 employees, started work on Tigerair A320s at Melbourne’s Tullamarine in October 2013 and expanded to the low-cost carrier’s Brisbane and Sydney bases in March 2014.
Tigerair head of engineering, Robin Furber said the airline was pleased with the efficiencies delivered through the aircraft maintenance partnership with BAE.
“BAE Systems has used its proven military experience to work with us to provide an enhanced focus on operational excellence as we remain committed to delivering the best in terms of safe, affordable and reliable air travel, which our customers demand,” Furber said.
The five-year partnership with Tigerair was BAE’s the first non-military engineering support contract in Australia.
Virgin Australia owns 60 per cent of Tigerair and has moved to purchase the remaining 40 per cent stake that it does not own from Singapore-based Tiger Holdings for $1.
