Closer ties between Scoot and Tiger vital for success

WITH Scoot and Tiger Airways housed under a single holding company, the long-anticipated merger of the two budget carriers seems just a matter of time now.

Budget Aviation Holdings, as the entity is known, allows for the consolidation of overlapping functions such as sales and marketing as well as planning and operations, while driving down costs and pushing for deeper integration between the duo. These closer ties will also be critical in helping Scoot and Tiger overcome challenges in the near and medium term.

Heading up the new management team is Tiger's former chief executive Lee Lik Hsin, a Singapore Airlines (SIA) veteran who was brought in to steady the ship at Tiger some two years ago as it embarked on a drasti…