ANN/THE STAR – Capital A Bhd, the parent of Malaysian budget airline AirAsia is expecting to see the carrier’s operations returning to pre-pandemic levels by year-end, Capital A chief executive officer (CEO) Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said yesterday.
The target indicates a slight delay from his forecast of putting all 204 of its fleet back in service by August.
“We’ll never have 204 (planes fully operating) because we always have some planes (in) maintenance. For me to get back to 190 planes operational is pre-COVID,” Fernandes told the media on the sidelines of the Forbes Global CEO conference in Singapore.
He said AirAsia’s operating level stood at between 50 per cent and 60 per cent in the first half and it was expected to have about 190 planes back in service by the final quarter of this year.
Fernandes did not elaborate on the delay but said drivers for capacity growth included improving demand from migrating workforce, tourism, students and connecting travellers.
