Capital A Chief Executive Officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said the Philippines is a key destination for AirAsia’s further expansion in Asean and beyond, outlining growth expectations for AirAsia Philippines.
As the head of Capital A, AirAsia Philippines’ parent company, Fernandes laid out plans in a Town Hall meeting with Filipino Allstars to sustain the growth trajectory for AirAsia Philippines which include re-fleeting and strengthening of hubs to support service improvements amid rising demand for travel across APAC.
On how Capital A plans to bolster its fleet expansions for AirAsia Aviation amid anticipated worldwide shortages in aircraft supplies, Mr. Fernandes disclosed that additional aircraft are in the pipeline. “We have an ordered book of over 400 planes.
That order book starts next year with a delivery of five A321s over the next few years.” said Mr. Fernandes.
“As for the Philippines, it’s the combination of getting some leased and new aircraft,” Fernandes added. With its current 16 aircraft up in the air, AirAsia Philippines targets to double by 2024 and add wide-body aircraft to further grow its reach and capacity. 30
Moreover, AirAsia Philippines continues to manifest positive growth in the past months as reflected in the increase in load factor which registered at 91% last May. The World’s Best Low-Cost Airline currently flies to 11 domestic and 13 international destinations with plans of expanding existing Cebu, Clark, and Kalibo hubs by mounting more regional routes to Japan, Korea, and China.
AirAsia Philippines also continues to increase its manpower to support its growing business demand. 318 new employees were added to its roster for the first five months of the year, and more will be added as the airline mounts a two-day cabin crew recruitment day on 8 – 9 June.
Return of tourism
“We are back.” said Fernandes. “We’ve said for a long time we want to bring tourists to the Philippines, we were on our way, and then COVID came, so we will start again. This is an amazing country and deserves for the world to know about it,” he continued.
“The aviation sector has really bounced back stronger and is driven towards further growth. Leisure is very strong which continues to drive high ticket sales. Looking at the spending attitude, people will spend first on travel before anything else. This will further stir travel demand stronger and stronger,” Fernandes added.
To further its growth, Mr. Fernandes said AirAsia will continue to push forward and introduce more routes for the international market whilst maintaining a world-class service backed by the lowest fares in the market today.
AirAsia Philippines’ parent company Capital A closed Q1 2023 with a revenue of RM2.5 billion or $546 million. 157 aircraft are now back in the air flying to 165 destinations in 25 countries. Total deliveries made by its air logistics provider made a total of 5.7 million deliveries for Q1 2023. Monthly active users of Superapp on the other hand increased to 12.9 million users.
