Virgin Australia has tapped its head of cargo and charter service to become chief executive of Tigerair Australia, tasking Merren McArthur with guiding the budget carrier back to profitability.

Ms McArthur joined the Virgin Australia Group as general counsel in 2008 and was promoted to group executive of alliances and network planning in 2011.

The former deputy state solicitor of Western Australia and Rio Tinto adviser was tasked with running Virgin's resources charter flight business, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines, after the group bought Skywest in 2013, and launched Virgin's cargo business in 2015.

Ms McArthur said she looked forward to again working at a low-cost airline, which she had not done since her early days at Virgin Blue.

“The low-cost carrier model has moved along dramatically since then and that’s what I love about the low-cost carrier model," she said.