With confidence in its future prospects, AirAsia Aviation Group anticipates adding 100 more aircraft across its airline units over the next five years, with its sister cargo unit taking on “at least” 50 additional freighters.
In the near future, the business is also planning to lease six more aircraft, especially for its Indonesian and Philippine subsidiaries.
Capital After two years of the pandemic, which had all but destroyed travel demand, A boss Tony Fernandes said the airline group is “beginning to talk about growth.” On September 15, he was addressing in Singapore when AirAsia crews returned to the recently refurbished Terminal 4 of Changi Airport. Fernandes claims that getting the company’s fleet of more than 200 Airbus A320 family planes back in the air, which he anticipates will happen by the first quarter of 2023, is a top priority right away. By the end of the year, the firm hopes to have around 160 flying aircraft, up from the current 110 planes in operation.
“We’re paying for fixed expenditures, so we really need to get the planes back in the air…
And we don’t receive any income from those assets,” he continues.
Growing the fleet would be the “next stage,” with additional deliveries starting in 2024.
With almost 300 A321neos on order, the group is an important client of Airbus. Only four of the examples were delivered to AirAsia before the epidemic completely destroyed the airline industry. According to Fernandes, Indonesia AirAsia is anticipated to be the first aviation unit to announce fleet expansion by year’s end, with 26 aircraft operating as opposed to 24 prior to the epidemic. Additionally, Philippines AirAsia is anticipated to expand its fleet compared to pre-Covid-19 levels.
However, he is quick to stress out that “we are growing everything,” even though the Indonesian and Philippine units are seeing fleet expansion due to the additional leased aircraft.
“We require the new aircraft in Thailand and Malaysia…
Just because Indonesia and the Philippines are doing so nicely, we want to increase their size, claims Fernandes. Additionally, he predicts that shipping and logistics will play a “very large part” in the group’s future expansion. As part of a capacity expansion, sister company Teleport recently announced plans to lease three A321 freighters from lessor BBAM.
In the following five years, Fernandes anticipates “at least 50 more freighters,” however he did not specify whether they would be further A321 freighters or other types of aircraft.
Consequently, he continues, “the growth is now coming, but really, I’ve been focused on making sure we survive and [get] all our… planes back [flying].”
AirAsia Aviation turned a profit for the first time since the pandemic hit in 2020, posting an EBITDA of MYR151 million ($33.3 million).
