Dear Friends It was announced today that a new budget airline called Tiger Airlines would be launched in Singapore in the second half of next year. Singapore Airlines will take a 49% share, and the other partners will be Ryanair founder Tony Ryan's Irelandia Investments, the investment arm of the Singapore government, and Indigo Partners. Charlie Clifton, formerly director of ground and in-flight operations of Ryanair, will lead the effort to get the airline going. To be based at Changi Airport, no destinations were announced except that flights would be to places up to four hours away. So I'm guessing South East Asia. The formation of Tiger Airlines comes in the wake of the setup of another budget airline, ValuAir which is headed by the ex-CEO of Singapore Airlines. All the good things that listers want to know was unfortunately not revealed like aircraft type, fleet size, routes, and fares. Russell SIN