AirAsia parent to raise $95.5m for engineering arm

AirAsia’s parent Capital A Bhd is raising more than 400m ringgit ($95.53m) in capital for its engineering arm, which plans to build maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. CE Tony Fernandes of Capital A, which owns Malaysia’s flagship budget airline AirAsia, on Tuesday said the group would support growth at the wholly-owned Asia Digital Engineering subsidiary. “We’re looking to raise actually in excess of 400 million ringgit to fund the expansion and growth (of ADE),” Fernandes said at a press briefing on the sidelines of the Singapore Airshow. ADE CE Mahesh Kumar said it would cost about 250m ringgit to build the new facilities in Kuala Lumpur and that the company is open to developing similar facilities in Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. A statement from ADE said that the 380,000 sq ft project will commence mid-2022 and is expected to complete within two years. The integrated facilities will be able to provide heavy MRO services for up to 14 commercial aircraft at any time, setting up the company as one of the largest MRO providers in the region, it said. ADE’s website said the business offers aircraft services focused on the Airbus A320, A321 and A330 jets, including line maintenance, warehouse and engineering support services. <br/>