Bloomberg citing a report from The Edge reported that low-cost airline AirAsia is seeking to establish business units in Singapore and Vietnam.
The report quoted Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A Bhd, the parent company of AirAsia, as saying that the company wants to have a presence in these markets even though it acknowledges that it will not be the largest company there.
AirAsia operates in Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia.
In Vietnam, the low-cost airline does not have a legal entity but only operates international flights on aircraft with foreign nationality.
These include 300 flights between cities in Vietnam and Thailand and Malaysia, followed by connecting flights to other destinations in AirAsia’s extensive network.
AirAsia aircraft at KLIA2 terminal, Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia. Photo: Dy Khoa.
Previously, the airline had planned four times to establish a low-cost airline joint venture in the Vietnamese market, but all failed.
Most recently, in 2019, AirAsia Investment, Gumin, and Hai Au terminated the transaction related to an agreement to establish a low-cost airline joint venture in Vietnam.
According to the 2023 financial report of Capital A Bhd, the aviation sector (including AirAsia Malaysia, AirAsia Thailand, AirAsia Indonesia, and AirAsia Philippines) recorded load factors of 80% per quarter, leading to a significant increase in the group’s load factor to 88%, up 5 percentage points from the same period.
The report also stated that the airlines under AirAsia operated efficiently with 162 aircraft, transporting nearly 57 million passengers throughout the year.
Compared to pre-Covid levels, the passenger airline group’s recovery capacity achieved 77% thanks to a capacity recovery rate of 74%.
The domestic recovery rate was 82%, while the international recovery rate was 72%. Within the group, AirAsia Indonesia and Thailand saw the most significant recovery rates at 90% and 85%, followed by AirAsia Malaysia and Philippines at 72% and 77%.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, Air Asia’s revenue and EBITDA reached 4.6 billion RM (approximately 973 million USD) and 504 million RM (~100 million USD), contributing to 2023 full-year revenue of 13.7 billion RM (~2.9 billion USD) and EBITDA of 1.8 billion RM (~381 million USD).
The average ticket price reflects the recovery capacity, with an increase of 16% compared to the same period last year and an equivalent increase to 250 RM (1.3 million VND) per passenger.
Capital A Berhad is a listed company and operates the AirAsia brand – a multi-national low-cost airline – based in Malaysia near Kuala Lumpur.
This is the largest airline in Malaysia in terms of fleet size and destinations.
AirAsia operates domestic and international flights to over 166 destinations in 25 countries.
The main airport of the airline is located at KLIA2 Terminal, a low-cost carrier terminal, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia.
Associate airlines AirAsia Cambodia, Thai AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia, and Philippines AirAsia are headquartered at Phnom Penh, Bangkok – Don Mueang, Jakarta – Soekarno-Hatta, and Manila – Ninoy Aquino airports, respectively.
Meanwhile, the sister airline, Air Asia X, focuses on long-haul routes.
Each flight ticket may increase by up to 250,000 VND, and the airline has confirmed that the price change will take effect in March.
