Low-cost carrier Tiger Airways has begun trialling cargo services between Singapore and five cities in Southeast Asia as a way of increasing ancillary revenues. The Singapore-based carrier, which operates a fleet of Airbus A320s, began offering cargo space on its aircraft between the island-state and Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Kuching and Penang on 15 January. It could extend this to other destinations if the trials are successful, Tiger added, which led the carrier to extend the service to Hong Kong where it appointed Asia Airfreight Terminal Co Ltd (AAT) as its cargo service provider at Hong Kong International Airport.

“The addition of cargo services will create an additional source of ancillary revenue. It is part of our strategy to increase our aircraft capacity utilisation and route profitability without compromising safety, security and punctuality,” said Tiger Airways Singapore managing director, Rosalynn Tay. “The trials will help us observe and fine-tune our cargo operations, before a larger-scale implementation across our network.” It is the second Southeast Asian lowcost carrier to offer cargo services with Malaysia-based AirAsia saying last month that it plans to carry cargo in the belly of its fleet of Airbus A320s.