Tiger Airways faces a tough task in coming back from its month-long grounding, Virgin Group CEO Sir Richard Branson says.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has decided to extend Tiger Airways Australia's initial week-long grounding, which had been due to end on Saturday, until August 1.
The Federal Court has to sign off on the extension once it gets the paperwork today or tomorrow, but that appears to be a formality given that Tiger has said it won't oppose the move.
The longer grounding will intensify speculation about Tiger's future in the Australian market, although the airline says it's fully committed to resuming services as quickly as possible.
Sir Richard, the largest shareholder in Tiger's rival Virgin Australia, said he didn't know if the carrier would be able to get back in the air, but hoped it would.
"I think it's going to be tough to come back from that, but obviously for the sake of all the staff let's hope they manage to get their act together and be back in a month's time," he told Triple M radio in Sydney.
The unprecedented action by CASA over safety concerns has claimed the scalp of Tiger's Australian CEO Crawford Rix, who has quit the airline after 13 months in the role.
Mr Rix, a former managing director of UK low-cost carrier bmibaby, whose career in the aviation industry spans more than 30 years, will leave Tiger at the end of July.
In a sign that its Singapore-based parent company remains committed to the Australian market, Tiger Airways Holdings group president Tony Davis has taken over as CEO of Tiger Airways Australia.
Mr Davis, who has been leading the negotiations with CASA this week, will remain a director of Tiger Airways Holdings but his former role will be handled by executive director Chin Yau Seng.
Tiger Airways Holdings has said the grounding is costing it $2 million ($A1.5 million) a week.
This week's grounding affected 35,000 passengers and the extension is set to impact on tens of thousands more during school holidays around the country.
CASA spokesman Peter Gibson apologised to travellers but said the action was necessary as it involved serious safety issues.
"It's important to take a few more weeks to do the investigations, do the analysis and ensure that we get the right safety outcome," Mr Gibson said.
"We certainly understand that they are disappointed and annoyed that Tiger's not operating, but in the interests of safety it's necessary."
CASA is likely to impose a series of requirements on Tiger to address its concerns, which centre on pilot proficiency and aircraft maintenance issues.
"Assuming nothing else arises then the intention will be after that to get Tiger to make the appropriate changes so they can operate again," Mr Gibson said.
CASA has said if it completes its investigations before August 1 and is satisfied that Tiger no longer poses a serious and imminent risk to air safety, it may be possible for it to resume operations earlier.
Late Wednesday, Tiger said it had been working constructively with CASA for five days to establish a plan for the resumption of services and would not oppose the period of extension.
It said it will refund fares for passengers booked to fly between now and July 31.
AAP
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