AirAsia Indonesia to more than double fleet in 3 years - parent company CEO

Air Asia Co

04/09/2023 13:29

JAKARTA, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Capital A Berhad  CAPI.KL 
plans to more than double its fleet in Indonesia in the next
three years to capture a growing tourism market after the
COVID-19 pandemic, its chief executive Tony Fernandes said on
Monday.
    AirAsia Indonesia  CMPP.JK , a unit of Capital A, currently
has around 28 planes in its fleet. Fernandes told reporters on
the sideline of an ASEAN business forum in Jakarta that he plans
to grow the fleet to 75 by 2026, bringing in more wide-body
aircrafts.
    Fernandes said that the main goal of the company after the
pandemic has been to quickly grow its fleet as travel returns to
normal levels. 
    "I'm very excited and we want to do as much direct
connectivity, we want to open routes that we haven't opened up
before," Fernandes said, citing Indonesia's plans to develop
destinations beyond the popular holiday island of Bali.
    Last year, Malaysia's AirAsia Group Bhd changed its name to
Capital A Berhad to reflect its growing portfolio of businesses
beyond the core budget airline.
        Fernandes stepped down as AirAsia X CEO in October 2022,
but has been the CEO of its parent company since 2018. 
  
    Asked about his estimate for passenger growth, he said: "We
obviously think we can increase by about 300% from where we are
now. So obviously, you have bigger planes and more capacity, the
growth could be very exciting."
    AirAsia Indonesia recorded more than 1.5 million passengers
in the last quarter, according to the company's website. It
operated 33 domestic and international routes as of the end of
last year.
    Indonesia has seen a strong rebound in its tourism industry
after the easing of all COVID-19 restrictions this year.
    The Southeast Asian country's tourism ministry has revised
up its target for foreign arrivals in 2023 to 8.5 million
visitors from 7.4 million.

 (Reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman; Editing by Gayatri Suroyo and
Deepa Babington)
 ((Stefanno.Sulaiman@thomsonreuters.com;))