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iger Airways Holdings Limited (Tiger Airways) announced on Tuesday the completion of the airline’s purchase of a 33 percent stake in PT Mandala Airlines (Mandala). Tiger Airways’ CEO Chin Yau Seng said in Jakarta the purchase was made through the airline’s wholly-owned subsidiary in Singapore, Roar Aviation Pte. Ltd.

“We are pleased to have completed this transaction and are excited about the re-launch of Mandala’s operations once its AOC has been reactivated. Mandala is the first of Tiger Airways’ joint venture ‘Cubs’ and represents a significant step in our efforts to expand our ‘paw-print’ in this region,” he said in a statement.

Mandala has undergone a financial restructuring process in accordance with Indonesian law. The largest shareholder in the restructured Mandala will be the Saratoga group, which will hold a 51.3 percent stake. The remaining 15.7 percent will be held by the previous shareholders and creditors of Mandala.

The next stage of the process is to reactivate Mandala’s Air Operators Certificate (AOC), which has been frozen since the suspension of its operations in January 2011. The AOC is expected to be reactivated in February 2012, after which flight sales will commence ahead of the resumption of flights in April 2012.

The restructured airline will adopt the Tiger Airways business model, and plans to offer low fare travel to international and domestic Indonesian destinations located within a 5-hour flying radius.

Like other airlines in the Tiger Airways Group, the restructured airline will also operate Airbus A320 aircraft. Further information on the number of aircraft, the initial routes and destinations will be announced once all approvals have been granted by regulators and authorities.

Sandiaga Uno, founding partner of Saratoga group, said “We are delighted by the successful completion of this investment with our valued partners. We take great pride in helping to return Mandala, a well-loved Indonesian icon, to the skies of Indonesia.” (nfo)