Tiger Airways saw its share of commercial airline web traffic plummet over the course of 2011, a turbulent year for the carrier.
Recent data from internet analytic firm Experian Hitwise revealed that in the first week of January 2011 the low cost carrier held 11% share of all traffic to commercial airline websites. That sank to a low of 2.26% in July, when the airline’s domestic fleet was grounded due to safety concerns. By the first week of January 2012, this share had only risen back up to 3.69%, despite the resumption of services on a reduced schedule.
Meanwhile Qantas spent most of the year as the airline with the greatest share of traffic, with a higher share in the first week of 2012 with 21.36% than it had in the first week of 2011 when it held 19.43%, when it came second to Virgin Australia with 20.35%.
Qantas held onto pole position even during strike disruptions and the controversial grounding of its fleet, in fact rising to 26.51% of total share in the week ending November 5 when the drama climaxed.
Continued on page 2….
Apart from a couple of stints in first place, Virgin Australia spent most of the year in second place but slid into third towards the end behind Jetstar, before bouncing back up to trail Qantas by just 0.32% in the first week of January 2012.
The year also saw Emirates’ share almost double, rising from 2.47% in January 2011 to 4.24% in January 2012 as AirAsia’s share dipped from 6.03% to 4.80%. The effect of this week’s launch of Sydney services by the Malaysian low cost carrier will be revealed next week.
