I think the only “solution” would be to implement your own tabs support.
Just add the css stylings for tabs (http://ionicframework.com/docs/components/#tabs) and add routing as you normally would to transition between pages. If you want “no” transition ala tabs then set nav-transition=“none” on the anchor links in the tabs.
You wouldn’t get the per tab history stack but I suspect thats exactly the “feature” people on this thread want to avoid?