Malaysia’s AirAsia to lease an additional 15 aircraft

An upbeat Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A, the parent company of AirAsia (AK, Kuala Lumpur International), says business has rebounded so well that talks are underway to lease 15 additional aircraft on top of the 326 already on order.

“We are so bullish on growth that we’re in negotiations now to sign 15 new aircraft from lessors,” he told Reuters. “The uncertainty of routes has now gone with China opening…and there’s a clear path to normalcy, to 2019 pre-Covid.” In addition to China reopening, Fernandes said the recovery of Asian currencies and oil prices coming off their peaks are also signs that the airline is regaining its former momentum.

The CEO did not disclose who the prospective lessors were but the airline presently flies Airbus narrowbodies from a wide range of lessors. AirAsia’s fleet comprises sixty-nine A320-200s, twenty-nine A320-200Ns, two A321-200NX, and one A330-300. The current outstanding aircraft orders are for aircraft from the A321neo family.

Fernandes also told Reuters that Capital A’s restructuring should be completed by mid-3Q 2023 and will involve taking AirAsia out of the Capital A corporate entity and merging it with AirAsia X (D7, Kuala Lumpur International). When that is done, Capital A will no longer have direct airline interests. The Malaysian stock exchange, Bursa Malaysia Bhd, determined Capital A to be a financially distressed entity at the start of 2022, putting it on what is known as Practice Note (PN) 17 status which requires a company to restructure and resolve its financial issues to maintain its stock exchange listing.