Tiger Airways Holdings Limited : Tiger Airways Reports Loss After Tax of $104 Million For The Financial Year Ended 31 March 2012

(Incorporated in the Republic of Singapore) Company Registration Number: 200701866W

• Group loss after tax of $104.3 million for the financial year ended 31 March 2012, versus a profit after tax of $39.9 million for the previous year
• The six-week suspension of Tiger Airways Australia and subsequent under-utilisation of the
Group's aircraft fleet significantly impacted on financial performance
• Substantial increase in fuel prices also impacted on the financial result
• The business is focused on returning to profitability

The net loss after tax for FY11-12 was $104.3 million, compared to a profit after tax of $39.9 million for the financial year ended 31 March 2011 (FY10-11).
Total revenue for FY11-12 was $618.2 million, marginally lower than the $622.3 million recorded in FY10-11. Due to the under-utilisation of the Group fleet and the substantially higher fuel price, Cost per Available Seat Kilometre (CASK) increased by 12.0% in FY11-12 compared to the previous year, whilst CASK (excluding fuel and foreign exchange differences) increased by 9.6%.
The loss after tax for the quarter ended 31 March 2012 was $16.4 million, versus a profit after tax of
$1.4 million in the quarter ended 31 March 2011. The under-utilisation of the fleet in Australia, coupled with stubbornly high fuel prices were the main contributors to the quarter's loss.
Chin Yau Seng, Group CEO, said: "It is without a doubt that the Group's financial results for the year ended 31 March 2012 were disappointing. However, we have taken steps, and are making good progress, in nursing the Group's financial performance back to health.
"Clearly, the Tiger Airways Australia suspension by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia from
2 July to 11 August 2011 contributed significantly to the poor financial result. Following the suspension, Tiger Airways Australia conducted a thorough internal review of its processes and procedures, and has made major improvements. These have included changes in its governance practices, organisational structure, management systems and approach in dealing with external stakeholders.
"The Tiger Airways Australia suspension led to the under-utilisation of the Group's fleet, which resulted in significant and adverse variances in the Group's financial unit metrics in FY11-12. In an attempt to absorb the surplus capacity, Tiger Airways Singapore grew its seat capacity by 47% year- on-year. Encouragingly, Tiger Airways Singapore's passenger numbers increased by 39%, albeit still lower than the growth in seat capacity.
"The new financial year presents us with an opportunity to close the books on FY11-12 and focus on our growth strategies to pull the Group back into profitability. We note that there are both opportunities and challenges in the new financial year. Fuel prices continue to hover at uncomfortably high levels and our challenge is to improve yields and boost ancillary revenue to compensate for the fuel cost impact.
"More positively, we concluded our 33% equity investment in PT Mandala Airlines in January 2012 and Mandala subsequently returned to the skies in Indonesia in April 2012. Mandala is currently flying
on three domestic and international routes with its three aircraft, and we will continue to support
Mandala in increasing its presence in Indonesia.
"Further, and in line with our joint-venture strategy across the South-east Asian region, we recently signed a revised term sheet to purchase a 40% equity stake in Philippines-based South-east Asian Airlines. We are aiming to conclude this deal by the second quarter of FY12-13, providing yet another avenue for the Tiger Airways Group to grow its paw print in the region," said Mr. Chin.
Other key points to note:
• Tiger Airways Singapore reported an operating loss of $16.0 million in FY11-12 compared to an operating profit of $53.8 million in FY10-11. The result was impacted by excess aircraft capacity in the Tiger Airways Singapore fleet and higher fuel prices. During the year, new services were launched to Cebu, Bangalore and Dhaka, and frequencies were increased on existing routes, including to Bangkok, Tiruchirapalli (Trichy) and Hanoi. For the new financial year, services to Kochi began in April 2012 and services to Colombo will commence at the end of May 2012.
• Tiger Airways Australia reported an operating loss of $76.8 million in FY11-12 compared to an operating loss of $8.8 million in FY10-11. The result was significantly impacted by the six- week suspension of Tiger Airways Australia in the second quarter of FY11-12, the subsequent under-utilisation of the fleet, and higher fuel prices. Services were consolidated to a single operating base at Melbourne (Tullamarine) following the six-week suspension. A second base is currently being established at Sydney and will be operational in July 2012.

Outlook Statement from the Company

Following rapid capacity expansion in FY11-12, Tiger Airways Singapore is moderating its seat capacity growth to 7% in the Northern Summer 2012 season (April to October) compared to the same season last year. This will allow passenger demand to catch up to the additional capacity introduced in the previous financial year, which should in turn lead to improvements in load factors in FY12-13.
Tiger Airways Australia is planning to commence operations from Sydney, its second domestic base, from July 2012. Following approval from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia to increase the number of sectors that it can operate, Tiger Airways Australia is ramping up to 64 daily sectors (from
38 daily sectors) by the second half of calendar year 2012. From now until the end of June 2012, Tiger Airways Australia will continue to operate at reduced capacity and on a limited schedule.
Following the financial restructuring of Mandala with Tiger Airways and the Saratoga group as new investors, Mandala launched services in April 2012 on three routes. In this initial phase, Mandala will focus on building brand presence and load factors.
The Group continues to face a challenging business environment and remains exposed to high and volatile fuel prices.

ABOUT TIGER AIRWAYS HOLDINGS LIMITED (SGX: J7X)

(Company Registration Number: 200701866W)

(incorporated with limited liability in the Republic of Singapore on 1 February 2007)

Established in September 2004, Tiger Airways, together with its associated airlines, operates a fleet of
34 Airbus A320 aircraft and is committed to increasing its fleet size to 68 by December 2015. In addition, 2 Airbus A319 aircraft are independently operated by SEAIR in the Philippines under a Partner Airline Programme.
For more information, please visit www.tigerairways.com.

Passenger seat revenue 130,285 128,796 500,097 494,636
Ancillary revenue 30,802 34,382 118,087 127,629

Fuel costs:
Actual fuel costs 74,130 67,627 296,949 229,834
Fuel hedging gain - (3,189) (7,481) (3,450) Staff costs 26,846 22,563 102,751 81,075
Aircraft rental 18,494 12,477 61,709 62,382
Airport and handling 17,191 16,760 70,237 62,673
Maintenance, material and repair 10,227 16,063 67,270 62,850
Route charges 6,682 6,866 26,020 31,524
Marketing and distribution costs 2,161 1,245 8,095 7,203
Depreciation and amortisation 7,869 5,918 31,342 12,707
Exchange loss 2,266 3,430 7,978 9,982
Others 12,375 3,118 36,687 18,246

Finance income 534 393 1,764 1,460
Finance expense (2,382) (1,728) (9,358) (4,651) Exchange gain on borrowings - 1,299 733 12,977
Loss on disposal of aircraft (26) - (5,108) - Exceptional items - - (5,374) -

Taxation 2,609 (8,890) (3,621) (17,127)

(1) Represents revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), which is the number of paying passengers carried on scheduled flights multiplied by the number of kilometres those passengers were flown

(2) Represents available seat kilometres, which is the available seat capacity multiplied by the number of kilometres those seats were flown

(3) Represents the number of passengers as a proportion to the available seat capacity (180 seats available for our Airbus A320 aircraft)

(4) Calculated as our total revenue divided by RPK

(5) Represents cost per available seat kilometre. Calculated as total operating costs divided by ASK (6) Calculated as total operating costs (excluding fuel costs and forex difference) divided by ASK

(7) Represents average number of kilometres flown per flight

distributed by