AirAsia has grounded around 90% of fleet amid COVID-19 surge -exec

AirAsia Group Bhd has grounded around 90% of its fleet of more than 200 planes across Asia due to resurgence of COVID-19 outbreaks, an executive at its Malaysia unit said on Wednesday. Malaysia, its largest market with 105 planes, is currently under lockdown. AirAsia Malaysia expects demand could start to rebound from August, allowing it to restore service to all 17 of the domestic airports it serves by October, COO Javed Anwar Malik said Wednesday. A full return to pre-COVID demand levels across Asia is not expected until around Q3 2022, he said. AirAsia Group last month reported its seventh consecutive quarterly loss and said it was continuing efforts to secure more liquidity.<br/>