AirAsia upbeat despite China, maintenance constraints

FAA confirms Malaysia regains its Category 1 safety rating

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has confirmed reports that Malaysia has regained its International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) Category 1 rating. It follows Malaysia's Ministry of Transport (MOT) and its aviation safety agency, the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM), launching a social media blitz on the weekend, saying that three years after its downgrade to Category 2, the country had regained the top rating as of October 1, 2022.

Malaysia lost its Category 1 ranking after the FAA identified 58 International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) safety standards issues, 25 of which were promptly addressed. However, the outstanding 33 issues still apparent during a reassessment in the same year resulted in the downgrade. A Category 2 ranking doesn't prevent a country's airlines from continuing existing operations to or from the US, but it does prevent them from expanding services or new airlines commencing flights to the US.

"The past two years have been an important period for CAAM as the entire organization has been restructured while various efforts have been undertaken to strengthen its workforce, documentation and develop...

Malaysia's Teleport eyes 50 A321 freighters by 2028

Teleport, the logistics arm of Capital A, owners of AirAsia (AK, Kuala Lumpur Int'l), is eyeing fifty A321-200(P2F)s within five years amid fast-growing e-commerce air freight demand around Southeast Asia. Speaking in Singapore last week, Capital A CEO Tony Fernandes said that cargo was a "real opportunity" for the airline.

"So, we have taken Airbus 321 freighters, and the first one will come in December. That’s a new beginning for us to have freighters. In five years’ time, I think, we will have at least 50 freighters," The Jakarta Post reports Fernandes saying. "There’s a real opportunity here that what we did for passengers, we can do for cargo. Obviously, I think e-commerce could grow tremendously, and so we’re really focused on fulfilling faster e-commerce delivery."

As previously reported in ch-aviation, Teleport has already acquired three A321 freighters, with the first delivery now slightly brought forward from 1Q23. Pete Chareonwongsak, Chief Executive Officer of Teleport, had called the decision to take the freighters a "timely and strategic move" that would significantly boost Teleport's...

Malaysia's AirAsia acquires three A321Fs for Teleport ops

Teleport, the logistics arm of Capital A, which owns the AirAsia brand, has acquired three A321-200(P2F)s with delivery set to take place in "stages" from 1Q 2023. The incoming aircraft will significantly bolster Teleport's existing dedicated freighter fleet - presently a single B737-800(BCF) operated by K-Mile Asia (8K, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi). The three planes will arrive on lease from BBAM.

“It is a timely and strategic move on our part to complement our exclusive AirAsia passenger belly planes with a freighter network to expand and reinforce our increased capacity for key markets like China and India into ASEAN," said Pete Chareonwongsak, Chief Executive Officer of Teleport. "The combined fleet approach with multi-hub freighter and belly operations will give us a unique “many to many” network advantage to serve our customers in this region."

Chareonwongsak added that e-commerce continues to be the main driver of cargo demand in Southeast Asia, with significant growth in international cross-border e-commerce and express shipping. He said Teleport cargo is already carried on 252 AirAsia passenger aircraft...

Malaysia's MYAirline takes delivery of its first A320s