Tiger Airways has today issued a notice to its email subscribers correcting a statement it had previously made about the price of its competitor’s airfares.
On 10 August 2011, Tiger Airways issued an email to its subscribers, referred to as ‘An open letter to all Australians from the Tiger Airways team’. The email included the statement that ‘Since we haven’t been flying, our competitors have raised their fares by more than 30%’.
The Australia Competition and Consumer Commission has formed the view that Tiger Airways did not have a proper basis for which to make this statement and as such it may have contravened the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA) by making a false or misleading representation.
Tiger Airways has today retracted its statement acknowledging that it may have contravened the CCA.
“Businesses must ensure that any representations they make about a competitor’s prices are accurate” ACCC chairman Rod Sims said.
Further discussions with Tiger Airways are planned to ensure that it continues to comply with its obligations under the CCA.