Australia's Tigerair blames Indonesia for Bali flight chaos

Sydney

TIGERAIR Australia on Thursday accused Indonesia of failing to honour an agreement allowing it to fly to Bali, a day after hundreds of the budget airline's passengers were stranded in the holiday destination due to a bureaucratic technicality. The airline wholly owned by Virgin Australia Holdings said that Indonesian authorities had approved its operation of flights between Australia and Bali until March 25, but new procedures had resulted in confusion.

"If the Indonesian government does not wish to honour the current agreement, we are asking them to give us a grace period so that we can continue to fly while we work through the new requirements together," Tigerair chief executive Rob Sharp said. "This would help us to support our customers who make an important contribution to tourism in Indonesia."