The last conditions placed on Tiger Australia following its disastrous failure to comply with Australia’s safety laws have been lifted

About to get busy again, Tiger jets at Tullamarine

It is hardly something Tiger’s Australian division would want to draw attention to, but it has just been issued with a new air operator certificate which carries none of the restrictions imposed on its after its five week safety grounding in the middle of last year.

Tiger Airways Australia has today been issued with a new Air Operators Certificate (AOC) by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia (CASA) without any restrictions associated with the 2011 grounding.

The airline had previously been operating on an AOC with certain conditions imposed.

“This is a significant milestone for Tiger Airways,” said Andrew David, CEO of the Tiger Airways Australia. “Over the last year, we have worked hard to ensure that Tiger is second to none for safety, reliability and punctuality.  Today’s news reflects our close working relationship with CASA and ongoing commitment to operational excellence.”

The major question now is how safe the other Australian carriers will be from its expansion plans.

Tiger claims to be the only true low fare airline in the country. It’s natural competitor is Qantas owned Jetstar, but for most of this year, the ferocity of the air fare fight on Australia’s domestic routes has seen the full service brands offer many of their seats at low price levels that left Jetstar and Tiger with little room to move.

Tiger has previously said it is prepared to tough it out and focus and growth and reliability rather than profitability, if it has to.

With its safety restrictions removed, Tiger can now lift the daily hours and sectors flown by its A320s, which should lower its costs per seat kilometre enough to cut or eliminate its recent losses, meaning it has regained the ability to hurt its competitors more than it hurt itself by failing to comply with Australian safety requirements.