2 year old Air Ways episodes not the new Tiger

Two year old footage of Seven’s observational series Air Ways are not reflective of the relaunched budget airline Tiger, according to the airline’s Twitter account.

“The footage was filmed over 2 years ago so isn’t reflective of re-launched Tiger,” it said in response to a viewer question.

“In order to be popular the show airs a disproportionate amount of “drama” for viewers.”

The series also includes destinations that are no longer on Tiger’s itinerary.

But Tiger, which agreed to participate in the series prior to being grounded in July 2011, unfortunately has no say in when Seven was entitled to air the episodes. It probably didn’t count on them airing up to two years later after the airline underwent a major relaunch.

Yesterday Tiger spokesperson Vanessa Regan told TV Tonight, “The footage currently being shown on Air Ways series three is indeed from nearly two years ago. Tiger Airways has since re-launched the airline (last August) after reviewing every aspect of the operation.

“The new look Tiger Airways is committed to delivering safe, reliable, affordable air travel in a friendly and professional manner and customer feedback over the past year has been overwhelmingly supportive of the changes we’ve made.

“While it’s true, the Air Ways show currently on air is of the “old Tiger” and it does air a disproportionate amount of drama in order to be of interest to viewers – (similar to Border Security/Bondi Rescue and many other popular reality TV shows), at the same time, there are some truly heart-warming and entertaining human interest stories throughout the series. If you watch each story through to its resolution, you will find that generally, the majority end on a positive note. The consistently high ratings for the show speak for themselves but we are keen to remind people that our focus remains on customer satisfaction.”

Prior to September, Tiger had been the best for on-time performance for 11 consecutive months.

It was also two years ago that Air Ways narrator Corrine Grant lashed out a Seven after a Today Tonight story on hoarding.

“It made me look like one of those hoarders you see on extreme shows and like I’d gone to them to ‘confess my shame’. Good lord!” Grant said at the time.

“Corrine’s problem is not only with hoarding – she also has a memory problem,” a Network spokesperson then retorted.

“The reporter involved is distressed at the mistruths Corinne Grant is happily tweeting away with.”

Yesterday, Seven declined to comment on Tiger’s tweets about the old footage and whether it negatively affected the airline’s brand.