AirAsia X on strong footing, Capital A to benefit as economy tightens, CEO Tony Fernandes says

Despite soaring oil prices and weakening currencies, the outlook for aviation remains positive due to “extremely strong” demand, said Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia parent company Capital A. “We’re looking to add 20 more aircraft to the fleet for the first time in a long, long time even before Covid,” he said on Friday. What would be a “problem,” however, is getting the aviation group’s fleet back out of maintenance, Fernandes added. “In AirAsia we have 205 aircrafts and in AirAsia X we have about 20 aircrafts … getting slots and obviously getting them ready for service has been a big challenge.” The positive outlook comes in spite of negative market reactions to Fernandes’ resignation as AirAsia X’s Group CEO this week. AirAsia X is the long-haul budget flight arm of AirAsia. AirAsia X shares dropped after the Oct. 31 announcement, and losses since the development still stood at about 5% as of Friday morning. “Unfortunately, whatever I do gets blown out of proportion. I went in there [AirAsia X] for a short period … I just went in there to kickstart an airline that would have been heavily restructured and was in hibernation,” Fernandes said. AirAsia X slipped into PN17 status in October 2021, a designation issued by Bursa Malaysia<br/> to financially distressed firms. These firms can be delisted, should their financial position fail to improve. “I think we’re coming out of PN17. While I was very against it, I thought it was harsh to put us into PN17 … actually we’ve turned a negative into positive.” In his four-month tenure, Fernandes created a cargo business in AirAsia X, which he said has contributed “about 20% to the airline’s revenue during the pandemic” and will continue to play a vital role in its recovery. He added that AirAsia X now has “very strong footing” and better cost structure.<br/>