Tiger Airways Holdings today announced its operating statistics for March 2010 and for the full financial year ended 31 March 2010.

For the month of March 2010, 488,000 passengers chose to fly with Tiger Airways, a 51% increase over last year. Average Load Factors – the number of seats sold as a percentage of total seats available – increased 3 percentage points to 84%.

For the financial year ended 31 March 2010, total passenger numbers grew to a record breaking 4.9 million, an increase of 54% over the preceding twelve months. Average Load Factors increased 6 percentage points to 85%.

Tony Davis, President and Group CEO of Tiger Airways, says, “the record passenger numbers, despite the global financial crisis and the onset of the H1N1 flu, reflects how passengers have embraced the low fare revolution in the Asia Pacific region. The consistent growth in our passenger numbers throughout the year provides us with the confidence to expand our low cost, low fare model to even more destinations.”

“On 28 March, we successfully launched services to our newest destination, Brisbane, from three cities: Melbourne, Adelaide and Rockhampton. From 20 April, we will be increasing services from Singapore to Krabi, Hat Yai and Phuket, and from 18 June, daily services will be re-established between Melbourne and Darwin. Further service announcements will be made in the coming weeks and months,” says Davis.

Tiger Airways will release its full-year financial results for the year ended 31 March 2010 on May 13, its first full-year financial results announcement as a listed company.