Tony Fernandes plans New York listing for AirAsia

Tony Fernandes’s Capital A group is planning New York listings for its low-cost AirAsia airline and a digital “super app”. “If you want to be an actor, you’re probably going to want to end up in Hollywood at some stage in your career,” Fernandes said. “We think the time is right for part of Capital A group to be listed in the United States.” He said the group, which changed its name earlier this year, had begun compliance work and envisaged two separate listings, one for AirAsia “sometime next year”, followed by the so-called super app, which will offer services from travel to takeaways. The company, which previously considered merging its digital businesses with a special purpose acquisition company, crashed into the red during the pandemic, prompting EY in July 2020 to question its ability to survive. Fernandes, who pivoted to ecommerce and digital businesses during the pandemic, said that issue had now been resolved. While Capital A’s shares remain under Practice Note 17 on the Malaysian stock exchange — a listing for groups in financial distress — Fernandes insisted that was a solvable “accounting” issue, which “doesn’t reflect the fundamentals of the company”. The airline’s Q1 losses widened 90% compared with the same period in 2021, while the group’s Malaysia-listed shares remain at a sixth of their 2018 peak. Fernandes, Capital A’s CE, said 85 of AirAsia’s 212 aircraft were now flying, with 80 to 90% load factors, and 176 aircraft will be back in the skies by December. “I think in the third and fourth quarter, we would be ebitda-positive, including leasing, and so . . . I’m quite confident of 2023 being profitable and definitely cash flow positive,” he said.<br/>