Tony Fernandes, the CEO of Capital A, which is the second largest shareholder in Philippines AirAsia (Z2, Manila Ninoy Aquino International) and supplier of its aircraft, has said he will provide an additional ten planes to the airline in a bid to tighten schedules and limit flight delays.
Philippines AirAsia, which presently flies to 30 destinations in 11 countries, is 60% owned by F&S Holdings, an entity associated with Filippino investors Antonio Cojuangco, Michael Romero, and Marianne Hontiveros, with the remaining 40%, the maximum foreign investment allowed in a Filipino-based airline, is held by AirAsia Aviation Limited, the holding company for Capital A's airline group.
"The biggest job for me as CEO has been to bring back planes, to make sure the schedule is the right schedule and not changing, and to stop delays," Fernandes told media last week. He said the additional aircraft would help achieve this. The comments come as Philippines AirAsia reported a 382% increase in passenger numbers in calendar 2022 to 4.21 million and average load factors of 89%.
Fernandes did not specify a timeline for the additional aircraft. Capital A has an order with Airbus for over 360 A321-200NX to be divided among the entity's short and medium-haul airlines, which includes AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia, Thai AirAsia, as well as Philippines AirAsia. Deliveries are set to resume next year after a pandemic pause. Courtesy of leasing deals, Philippines AirAsia grew its fleet of A320-200s to 26 aircraft last year. The two arrivals in 4Q22, both from BBAM, were the first fleet additions since 2019. An additional ten aircraft would increase the present fleet size by 38%. ch-aviation has contacted AirAsia for further details.
