As budget airline Tiger Airways heeded calls made by the Australian consumer watchdog on Wednesday to halt it ticket sales on Wednesday in light of the company's uncertain flight status, the country's aviation authority indicated today that a new decision will be issued on Friday.

According to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) on Thursday, it will release an advisory tomorrow which will duly notify Tiger Airways and domestic travellers if the company's entire fleet will remain grounded beyond Saturday.

On Friday last week, CASA ordered the airline to stop operating its domestic service flights within Australia as reports reached the regulator that a second Tiger plane had approached an airport for landing in an altitude much lower than the required level.

CASA deemed the incidents as safety hazards and according to its representative, Peter Gibson, the aviation regulator will finalise its decision on Friday if there is a need to seek the ruling of the Federal Court that would prolong Tiger's suspension.

Immediately following the suspension order last week, Tiger Airways Holdings sued for a negotiation with CASA and issued statement that lifting the prohibition is foremost on the carrier's agenda and a probe on the alleged safety risks has begun.

At the same time, a Tiger Airways spokeswoman announced that the airline will continue entertaining advance bookings as the company expressed optimism that the CASA order will be revised shortly.

That practice, however, was criticised by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which reminded Tiger Airways that in line with the ticket selling, the company needs to clarify to consumers that its flight schedules may not resume soon.

On Wednesday, Tiger decided to stop accepting advance bookings, opting instead for the conclusion of its talks with CASA, which will release an update on the issue tomorrow.

On its earlier decision, CASA noted that Tiger Airways has been plagued with a number of safety problems since March this year and the latest incidents prompted the authority to stay in close communication with the troubled airline.

Gibson said that the industry will be informed by Friday at the latest if CASA's work can be wrapped up this week and no extension will be required as he noted that grounding Tiger Airways' planes already inconvenienced tens of thousands of passengers.

He added that the aviation regulator was making sure that all safety concerns have been properly addressed before the airline will be allowed to resume its operations.