Tigerair Australia (Melbourne Tullamarine) has been given until Monday, January 16, 2017, to repatriate 2,000 Australian customers stranded in Denpasar after Indonesian authorities banned the carrier earlier this week.

The Australian LCC said in a statement that the embargo against it was a "sudden" decision by the Indonesian government to impose new administrative requirements for the operation of its flights between Bali and Australia.

The head of Cooperation and Public Relations in Indonesia's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Agoes Soebagio, said in a statement that the regulator embargoed Tiger for not meeting the terms of regulations KM 25/2008 and 109/2016 PM both of which govern the operation of non-scheduled flights.

The statement, seen by Bisnis, said the sanctions revolve around ticketing arrangements and that in the DGCA's eyes, the fact that the three B737-800s Tigerair operates on flights to Denpasar are wet-leased from Virgin Australia (VA, Brisbane International) means it is Virgin Australia which should have oversight of ticketing.

The LCC is in the process of transitioning its fleet away from the A320 to the B737 but has yet to gain regulatory approval to add the Boeing type to its own AOC.

Tigerair has said it is working with the relevant Indonesian authorities to meet the new operating requirements and is hopeful of having the flights up and running again as soon as possible. It, however, has not been granted any further permissions beyond January 16.

Tigerair serves Denpasar from each of Adelaide International, Melbourne Tullamarine, and Perth International.