SYDNEY, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Tigerair Australia, which was expected to resume flights to Bali on Friday after a three-week hiatus, has cancelled more flights to the island after Indonesia denied it final approval to fly.
The impasse was originally caused by Tigerair's failure to meet charter flight regulations, due to it using Virgin Australia aircraft for the flights. Tigerair is the budget subsidiary of Virgin Australia Holdings VAH.AX .
Tigerair's plan to resume flights on Friday relied on it switching from using Virgin's 737 aircraft to its own A320 aircraft.
The airline told customers late Thursday that it was cancelling the planned Friday flights "due to issues regarding final procedural approvals from Indonesian authorities".
It did not provide further details and said flights from Saturday onwards were under review.
Bali is an Indonesian holiday island known for its beaches and rice paddies, and is a popular holiday destination for Australian tourists. Tigerair usually carries hundreds of passengers between Australia and Bali each day.
The Tigerair flights had previously been considered regularly scheduled flights for regulatory purposes. needs to obtain a route permit and have an A320 aircraft inspected to receive final approvals, according to a person familiar with the situation.