Long-haul, low-cost carrier AirAsia X has run out of money and needs to raise up to 500 million ringgit ($120.60m) to restart the airline, deputy chairman Lim Kian Onn said in a newspaper interview published on Saturday. The Malaysian airline, the long-haul arm of AirAsia Group, said this month it wanted to restructure 63.5b ringgit ($15.32b) of debt and slash its share capital by 90% to continue as a going concern. “We have run out of money,” Lim told The Star newspaper. “Obviously, banks will not finance the company without shareholders, both old and new, putting in fresh equity. So, a prerequisite is fresh equity.” He said the airline had actual liabilities of 2b ringgit, with the larger figure of 63.5b ringgit including all lease payments for the next eight to 10 years and its large order for Airbus planes and contracted engine maintenance with Rolls-Royce Holdings. “If we find RM300 million in new equity, then the shareholder funds are RM300 million at the restart of business and if we are able to borrow RM200 million, we feel that we will have a good platform to start all over again,” he told The Star. Lim said AirAsia X also needed to convince its lessors of its business plan, adding an unnamed lessor recently took back one of the airline’s planes to convert it to a freighter. <br/>
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AirAsia X is liquidating its Indonesian arm in a bid to survive the virus pandemic that has left the low-cost airline’s planes grounded since late March. The long-haul arm of AirAsia Group Bhd. has also written down its 49% stake in Thai AirAsia X, the airline’s deputy chairman Lim Kian Onn said in an interview with the Star newspaper. These efforts come amid AirAsia X’s proposed restructuring plan to wipe out almost 63.5b ringgit ($15.3 billion) in debt and save it from collapse. The proposal requires approval from investors and creditors. Initial negotiations with creditors have been tough as they are understandably upset, Lim said in the interview. They had asked for better terms, including free equity for forgiven debt -- something that would be impossible for the airline to fulfill, he added. Still, Lim said all of them genuinely wanted to find a common ground to take the airline forward. “No one has anything to gain from our demise,” he told the newspaper. The airline is planning to resume flights in the first quarter, though the process remains “dynamic,” said Lim. Should the rescue plan get approval, the company will have to renegotiate every single contract and will do its best to look after all stakeholders’ interests, he said.<br/>
AirAsia Group believes its digital push will drive growth even as its core flight business suffers severe financial losses amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to the head of its online platform. The Malaysia-based budget carrier, which is under pressure to shrink its business throughout Asia, has launched an app aiming to be the "ASEAN superapp for everyone," and not only while flying. The plan brings AirAsia into direct competition with some of the region's leading digital players, including Singapore-based Grab and Indonesian rival Gojek. AirAsia has been bullish on e-commerce and financial technology over the last couple of years, but the pandemic and subsequent border closures have prompted the company to speed up its digital transformation. "We need to start focusing on growth. If we look at the airline for the next maybe 12 to 24 months, it would be about cost containment and rationalization. ... AirAsia.com as the platform is purely about growth," Karen Chan, the CE of AirAsia.com, the travel-tech and lifestyle platform of the airline, said Thursday. While AirAsia is increasing its presence in the region by grabbing market share from other struggling airlines, Chan explained that the focus of its airline business in the near future will be limited to the domestic market in each country it operates, capping its potential for further expansion. AirAsia revealed last week that it had launched what it hopes will be the region's next superapp by unifying its mobile service and websites into a single app, offering e-commerce, deliveries and payments. "We have also now moved into the e-commerce vertical and financial services," Chan said, enabling consumers to enjoy home delivery of duty-free products and also buy products unrelated to travel, such as "potatoes and zucchini." Chan reiterated that the company has the advantage of a customer database of 75m people across the group, gained mainly by its airline business.<br/>
Hedge fund Cyrus Capital is in negotiations with Flybe’s administrator, Ernst & Young, to reacquire some of the airline’s assets. A shareholder of Flybe before its collapse this year, Cyrus wants to relaunch a smaller version of the failed carrier next year, Sky reported on Saturday, without saying how it obtained the information. Both Cyrus Capital and EY declined to comment to Sky. A number of former executives of the British airline are involved in the plan, the report says. A precise timetable would depend on demand and the removal of coronavirus lockdown measures. <br/>
Creditors on Saturday backed a surprise plan by a consortium to revive Jet Airways 18 months after India's biggest private airline went bankrupt with US$1.2b in debt. London investment fund Kalrock Capital and Dubai-based tycoon Murari Lal Jalan proposed the rescue that was "duly approved" by a creditors' committee, Jet said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The statement did not give details of the plan but media reports said they had offered to make a payment of about US$115m to creditors and equity in the new firm which they wanted to concentrate on international routes. Creditors, mainly Indian public sector banks, took over Jet in early 2019 but failed to keep it operating as its cash crunch grew. It was finally grounded in April 2019. On top of its US$1.2b debt to the banks, the airline also faces huge claims from 20,000 former staff, airports and suppliers. Total liabilities could top US$4b. Kalrock Capital, founded by German entrepreneur Florian Fritsch, focuses on real estate and venture capital and has a major investment in electric car maker Tesla. Murai Lal Jalan has built up his fortune from mining, paper manufacturing and trading across several countries. The consortium will need approval from a government tribunal and India's aviation ministry before sealing the deal to purchase the airline which would have to reclaim flight slots since given to other airlines.<br/>
Mexican low-cost airline Volaris expects to consolidate much of the market it has gained during the coronavirus pandemic, though annual revenues are unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels before 2022, the company’s CE said. Volaris in January boasted a 32.5% share of the domestic market and 7.7% of international numbers, according to government data. But it has fared better in the pandemic than major rivals, and by August, Volaris’ share of domestic business was nearly 44%. Its international passenger share had leapt to 18.8%. Volaris President and CEO, Enrique Beltranena, said he expected the company’s rivals to gradually make up some of the ground they lost during the months ahead. But he believed much of the new business would stay. “By the end of 2021 (Volaris) will have roughly 40% of the domestic market, and I’d say about 17 or 16% of the international market,” Beltranena said.<br/>
Japanese budget airline Zipair Tokyo launched passenger services Friday with its first flights between Tokyo and Seoul, commencing operations after a delay of some five months due to the novel coronavirus pandemic which forced the company to switch to moving cargo. The twice-weekly passenger flights operated by the Japan Airlines Co. subsidiary between Narita airport, east of Tokyo, and Incheon International Airport near Seoul also came after business travel between Japan and South Korea resumed last week. The airline plans to make three round-trip flights per week from Oct. 25 when the winter schedule begins. Only two travelers were aboard a 290-seat Boing 787-8 aircraft that left for South Korea Friday morning in the airline's first-ever passenger flight while concerns about the novel virus spread continue to put the brakes on demand for air travel. The low-cost carrier initially planned to start a passenger service between Narita and Bangkok in May, adding Seoul in July. Instead, Zipair launched commercial operations in June with its passenger jets carrying only cargo to the Thai capital, and to Seoul from September. While global travel demand remains depressed, the new budget airline hopes that by starting to operate on the Tokyo-Seoul route, its reputation will quickly grow.<br/>
Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested the former managing director of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on charges of "illegal" hiring, officials said. On Saturday, the FIA's Corporate Crime Circle, Karachi arrested former PIA MD Aijaz Haroon and also former Human Resource director Mohammad Haneef Pathan, Dawn news reported. FIA Deputy Director Abdur Rauf Shaikh said the agency had registered an FIR against the two on charges of the illegal appointment of Salim Sayani, a Pakistani-American, as Deputy Managing Director in 2009 in "clear violation of PIA HR rules". The FIA officer said that Sayani, who is also been booked in the case had been appointed on a monthly salary of $20,000 along with other perks and privileges that caused huge loss to the national exchequer. Sharing details of the perks and privileges, the officer said apart from the salary in US dollars, he was allowed to stay at a five-star hotel for three months and his family was also provided accommodation in Dubai on flag carrier's expense.<br/>
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, a joint venture between the Hungarian budget airline and Abu Dhabi state holding company ADQ, has received its air operator certificate from the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority, state news agency WAM said on Saturday. “We have now received all regulatory approvals to operate the airline,” WAM quoted the airline’s managing director Kees Van Schaick as saying.<br/>