With much focus on the Tiger grounding turning to the possibility of its "extinction", it is worth pondering how serious the Civil Aviation Safety Authority is about Tiger posing a direct threat to safety or how fed up CASA may be with Tiger.
A grounding is subjective. There are clear rules about what airlines can and cannot do, but what combination of them can amount to a suspension of operations is for CASA to determine.
The regulator has been frustrated with Tiger for months, as evidenced by the show cause notice earlier this year. Tiger's response to the notice was evaluated for quite some time by CASA, suggesting the response was not the explicit turnaround CASA would have liked.
Tiger in its view may be playing by the official rules and pushing itself up to boundaries, but CASA operates on a stricter, officially unspoken basis. Case in point: after last November's Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine failure on Qantas Airbus A380 flight QF32, CASA did not ground Trent 900-powered A380s. But it made known to relevant operators its preference for such aircraft not to be operated until the situation was resolved, according to sources familiar with the matter. Qantas suspended its A380 operations, possibly entirely on its own, but Singapore Airlines continued to operate their A380s to the irk of some officials.
CASA's decision, prior to the grounding, to prohibit Tiger to expand should have sent alarms off in the shed of its Melbourne headquarters as well as with its Singapore parent company. Instead two Tiger A320s flew below minimum safe altitudes.
Now CASA is receiving the serious response it wants and aviation safety demands. Tony Davis, the chief executive of Tiger Airways Holdings, flew down from Singapore to work out the problems. Singapore Airlines, which has a stake in Tiger, has appointed Chin Yau Seng, vice president for cabin crew operations to Tiger.
While CASA's statement announcing the grounding was sharp, its follow-up remarks have a whiff of exhaustion as if it is negotiating through the press for Tiger to come to terms.
"This is a period for essentially natural justice for Tiger to be able to put their side to us and for us to consider that, and if not go to the court and let the court decide," a CASA spokesman said about extending the grounding beyond the five days CASA can impose. CASA has been coy about whether it will apply to the Federal Court to extend the grounding, as if egging Tiger on to shape up.
CASA may also feel under pressure. It did not look fully competent during a Senate hearing earlier this year, perhaps making it think it needs to play bad cop instead of good cop. That much could be inferred from transport minister Anthony Albanese, who is quoted saying: "If anyone thinks the air safety regulator isn't prepared to take tough decisions and do its job, I think that today is evidence that CASA is indeed doing its job."
Now the question is if Tiger will do its job.
A grounding is subjective. There are clear rules about what airlines can and cannot do, but what combination of them can amount to a suspension of operations is for CASA to determine.
The regulator has been frustrated with Tiger for months, as evidenced by the show cause notice earlier this year. Tiger's response to the notice was evaluated for quite some time by CASA, suggesting the response was not the explicit turnaround CASA would have liked.
Tiger in its view may be playing by the official rules and pushing itself up to boundaries, but CASA operates on a stricter, officially unspoken basis. Case in point: after last November's Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine failure on Qantas Airbus A380 flight QF32, CASA did not ground Trent 900-powered A380s. But it made known to relevant operators its preference for such aircraft not to be operated until the situation was resolved, according to sources familiar with the matter. Qantas suspended its A380 operations, possibly entirely on its own, but Singapore Airlines continued to operate their A380s to the irk of some officials.
CASA's decision, prior to the grounding, to prohibit Tiger to expand should have sent alarms off in the shed of its Melbourne headquarters as well as with its Singapore parent company. Instead two Tiger A320s flew below minimum safe altitudes.
Now CASA is receiving the serious response it wants and aviation safety demands. Tony Davis, the chief executive of Tiger Airways Holdings, flew down from Singapore to work out the problems. Singapore Airlines, which has a stake in Tiger, has appointed Chin Yau Seng, vice president for cabin crew operations to Tiger.
While CASA's statement announcing the grounding was sharp, its follow-up remarks have a whiff of exhaustion as if it is negotiating through the press for Tiger to come to terms.
"This is a period for essentially natural justice for Tiger to be able to put their side to us and for us to consider that, and if not go to the court and let the court decide," a CASA spokesman said about extending the grounding beyond the five days CASA can impose. CASA has been coy about whether it will apply to the Federal Court to extend the grounding, as if egging Tiger on to shape up.
CASA may also feel under pressure. It did not look fully competent during a Senate hearing earlier this year, perhaps making it think it needs to play bad cop instead of good cop. That much could be inferred from transport minister Anthony Albanese, who is quoted saying: "If anyone thinks the air safety regulator isn't prepared to take tough decisions and do its job, I think that today is evidence that CASA is indeed doing its job."
Now the question is if Tiger will do its job.
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