Flying high: Fernandes poses with AirAsia personnel after the carrier clinched the world’s best low-cost airline award for the 14th consecutive time at the Skytrax World Airline Awards 2023 in Paris recently.
PARIS: AirAsia intends to focus on its fleet and network expansion into Asean countries as part of its brand-rebuilding efforts post-Covid-19.
Capital A Bhd
chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said this following the addition of 19 new A320 aircraft to its fleet, adding that the carrier was negotiating with Airbus for more planes to support its expansion plans.
AirAsia now has 170 planes in service and will see all its 204 planes flying by end-August, he said, adding that growth would be supported by the group’s order book of 362 units of A321s which will start to be delivered next year onwards.
He said AirAxia X Bhd (AAX) had 15 units of wide bodies to come and about 15 to 20 units of extra long range (XLRs), which Airbus tested at the Paris Air Show and could fly up to 10 hours long.
AirAsia’s network expansion to Cambodia will begin in October, with Fernandes saying the group was hoping to add capacity later this year when it will have a total of 220 aircraft.
“We are hoping to introduce the A330 to Indonesia and the Philippines as well, making our network much larger and deeper,” he said.
The group is also expecting the arrival in July of the first of three dedicated A321Fs freighters for Teleport, its cargo and logistics division, which will allow the group to increase the volume and speed of cross-border deliveries.
Fernandes said AirAsia was not looking to expand its services to the European region at the moment, but said AAX was attempting to negotiate for flights to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkiye.
“Though expanding to Europe won’t be our top priority right now as we work to rebuild AirAsia, it will eventually happen, together with America and Africa,” Fernandes added.
On the company’s Practice Note 17 (PN17) status, Fernandes was optimistic it will exit Bursa Malaysia’s PN17 list this year.
“June and July are going to be big months for us. So, let’s wait and see,” he added.
Meanwhile, AirAsia has been voted as the world’s best low-cost airline at the Skytrax World Airline Awards 2023 for the 14th consecutive time.
As a global benchmark of airline quality and excellence, the final award results include more than 325 airlines with AirAsia emerging tops in its category.
The Skytrax World Airline Awards 2023 was held in conjunction with the Paris Air Show in France.
Fernandes said the recognition was a resounding testament to the airline’s recovery and robust growth in its routes and passengers carried, especially after the many post-Covid challenges carriers had faced.
He said the award reaffirmed AirAsia’s commitment to excel in customer experience, with numerous artificial intelligence enhancements for its chatbot, AskBo, alongside the rollout of its own biometric facial recognition technology, FACES, which makes flying and connecting with the airline more efficient and seamless than ever before.
