AirAsia in talks to set up Myanmar airline

Tony Fernandes’ AirAsia is in talks with a potential partner to open an airline serving Myanmar, in a move that would help the low-cost carrier cover up to 95% of the Southeast Asian travel market. The airline’s group CE said he also expected AirAsia’s Vietnam joint venture to be flying by October. AirAsia now has businesses in Malaysia - its home - along with India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan and Thailand, as well as plans to launch an airline in China. “Once you’ve covered Vietnam and Myanmar, you’ve got all the big (Southeast Asian) populations,” Fernandes said. “Vietnam - we’re talking about October, we’ve had great support from the Vietnam government and we have a great partner. My team are very bullish.” A number of companies have also been looking at Myanmar for its policy of slowly opening to foreign investment and its rapid economic growth, although Japan’s ANA last year dropped a plan to form an airline with local partner Golden Sky World, after authorities rejected their application. “It’s not going to be a big airline there, because the airport infrastructure is not there. But it is 50m people and it will develop over time,” said Fernandes.<br/>