Bit of an interesting story and a bit out of the blue. The deal makes sense for Virgin as seen in this graphic and aligns them with the Qantas/Jetstar model. Virgin claims nothing will change and Tiger will be run independently. It also announced it has acquired Skywest fitting in with it's regional plans. I guess only time will tell but with one less player in the market, this may see the end of competitively priced deals.
It was only a few years ago, that Virgin entered Australia's domestic airline market after the collapse of Ansett. Virgin were then touted as the budget airline to compete against Qantas. Now, Virgin are seeking to shed that budget reputation although I can't recall the last time Virgin had competitive fares.
Hmm. Virgin had $227 return flights to NZ on the front page today, so their fares aren't too bad.
Scoot also started linking up with Tiger, so it will be interesting to see what happens.