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Tag: airasia

  • AirAsia pushes new regional schedules, secondary hub growth

    AirAsia pushes new regional schedules, secondary hub growth

    Malaysia-based low cost carrier AirAsia Berhad plans to launch its latest direct flight between tier-two Chinese city Guangzhou and Langkawi, Malaysia at the end of January 2016.

    The choice of tourist destination Langkawi for the group’s latest international route underlines the company’s strategy to develop services on less heavily serviced routes. The schedule will see 4X-weekly Airbus A320 departures.

    AirAsia CEO Aireen Omar said the airline is focused on expanding its connectivity into China, especially second-tier cities such as the recently launched Changsha-Kuala Lumpur service.

    This secondary city approach is echoed by the AirAsia Group’s introduction of flights from Changsha-Bangkok operated by Thai AirAsia; a Krabi (Malaysia)-Guangzhou (China) service by AirAsia; and a Wuhan (China)-Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia) service, also by AirAsia.

    Additionally, the Thai subsidiary has introduced new international schedules from its newest regional hub at Thailand’s U-Tapao International Airport to Macau, Singapore, and is reportedly looking at new routes to India.

    “We will continue to add more aircraft orders as we go further because we are not only growing in Malaysia, but also in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, India and hopefully in Japan,” Omar said.

    AirAsia is scheduled to take delivery of its first Airbus A320 neo aircraft from the 2016 second half, which Omar said will be used to expand existing regional business as well as act as fleet replacements.

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  • AirAsia X to resume Delhi flights

    AirAsia X to resume Delhi flights

    AirAsia X will relaunch flights to Delhi in February 2016, four years after it suspended the service. The Malaysian low-cost carrier has confirmed that it will start operating four weekly direct flights between Kuala Lumpur and India’s capital on 3 February.

    Flights will depart KLIA every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 1900, arriving in Delhi at 2200. The return services will then leave the Indian capital at 2315, arriving back in KL at 0730 the next morning. The flight time is approximately five and a half hours.

    Like all other AirAsia X flights, the Delhi service will be operated using a 377-seat Airbus A330-300 aircraft, offering flat-bed seats in business class.

    AirAsia X pulled out of India in 2012, suspending its Delhi and Mumbai routes due to high operating costs. It will now compete with Malaysia Airlines and Malindo Air on the KL-Delhi route.

  • AirAsia recognised for contribution towards Sabah tourism

    AirAsia recognised for contribution towards Sabah tourism

    AirAsia has been named ‘Best Airline’ and received ‘Minister Special Awards’ at the recent Sabah Tourism Awards 2015.

    AirAsia Berhad CEO, Aireen Omar received the award on behalf of the airline from Sabah Minister of Tourism Culture and Environment, Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun.

    The ‘Best Airline’ category recognised AirAsia’s contribution to Sabah’s tourism industry in terms of connectivity and bringing the highest number of visitors to Sabah over the past two years.

    The ‘Minister Special Awards’ was given to AirAsia for its bold expansion of direct air connectivity to Sabah both internationally and domestically with a total of 23 destinations and growing.

    On top of that, the airline also fully optimised Kota Kinabalu’s strategic geographical position, enabling visitors to discover and experience Sabah’s world-class attractions, apart from developing business opportunities in Sabah.

    In a press statement, Aireen thank the Sabah Tourism Board for recognising their hard work and contribution to the state of Sabah with two prestigious awards.

    “We have invested substantially in developing Sabah into becoming a key AirAsia hub and are very pleased that our efforts have paid off with the ever-growing numbers,”

    “We have big plans for Sabah and look forward to growing the current 3 million passengers per annum to at least 12 million passengers,” she said.

    She added that the company is confident in reaching this target with a proper low cost carrier terminal in place in Kota Kinabalu.

    “Sabah has tremendous potential to be a key regional hub and we want to make this a reality,” she said.

    AirAsia has flown over 8.4 million people in and out of Sabah in the past two years and currently serves 698 weekly flights to and from Kota Kinabalu, Tawau and Sandakan in Sabah.

    The airline has also seen a growing trend of guests travelling from the Asian region and Australia into Kota Kinabalu through AirAsia’s Fly-Thru service.

    Bangkok, Beijing, Shanghai and Perth are the top cities with people connecting into Sabah for the past year, and AirAsia currently has 24 Fly-Thru routes into Kota Kinabalu, providing easy access and convenience for visitors across the region to travel to the state of Sabah.

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  • AirAsia launches all-new mobile app

    AirAsia launches all-new mobile app

    AirAsia has launched its all-new mobile application offering innovative new features, smoother functionality and an improved interface to provide guests with an enhanced and seamless flying experience.

    In a statement today, AirAsia said its mobile app has been nominated as the “World’s Leading Low-Cost Airline App’ at the upcoming World Travel Awards.

    AirAsia Group Chief Commercial Officer Siegtraund Teh said the company constantly invests in technology and innovation to make flying easier and more enjoyable for guests.

    “There have been over nine million downloads of the AirAsia mobile app on both iOS and Android platforms, and we hope that more people will discover the convenience of our new and improved mobile app,” he said.

    The new app’s features include “Add to Calendar”, which automatically links upcoming flights to the calendar; faster and simpler flight booking process; and improved mobile check-in and Manage My Booking experience where guests can easily include various add-ons to their flight bookings.

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  • Matta welcomes shifting of AirAsia’s operations to Terminal 1

    Matta welcomes shifting of AirAsia’s operations to Terminal 1

    The shifting of AirAsia’s operations to Terminal 1 next month will certainly be welcomed by passengers, said Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) vice president (inbound) Datuk KL Tan. He said the Terminal 2, which the low-budget-carrier is operating now, has poor ventilation, lack of check-in counters, immigration and goods and services tax refund counters, poor toilet facilities, among others.

    The terminal at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) has also exceeded its passenger capacity of two million passengers per annum (ppa), as last year its actual passenger volume was 3.6 million ppa. “This has been a long tussle for some years and we are glad AirAsia Group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes has realised we need to be law-abiding citizens. “Matta Malaysia wishes to thank Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for giving the final directive to AirAsia to move to Terminal 1,” he said in a statement.

    The Prime Minister, who officiated the RM1.7 billion Terminal 1 on Sept 16, had delivered an ultimatum to AirAsia to move its operations from Terminal 2, stating the airline had exceeded its timeframe. AirAsia has been involved in disagreements with Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd since the airline was asked to move its operations back in 2011, with the last deadline being on Aug 1 this year.

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  • PAL, Air Asia cancel 300 flights for Apec

    PAL, Air Asia cancel 300 flights for Apec

    The country’s flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) and Air Asia Philippines cancelled nearly 300 domestic and international flights in anticipation of disruptions in runway operations on the week of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit.

    In an advisory, PAL announced it was grounding 115 domestic and 96 international flights from Nov. 15 to 20 “to give way to the arrival and departure of Apec leaders.”

    The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) had announced periods of temporary runway closure at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport as part of the protocol for the arrival and departure of world leaders.

    Heads of state are expected to arrive on Nov. 16 and 17 for the summit which will be held on the 18th and 19th. They are expected to leave Manila on Nov. 19 and 20.

    “PAL assures affected passengers that the airline will reschedule their flights with rebooking and penalty charges waived,” the advisory said.

    Likewise, passengers with confirmed flights on Nov. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 or 20 have the option to rebook within 30 days from their original schedule “for as long as the new schedule falls within the ticket validity period.”  They can also refund the full  ticket cost.

    PAL said that it may cancel more flights depending on the flight movements of the heads of state attending the summit.

    Meanwhile, Air Asia cancelled 74 domestic and 10 international flights from Nov. 17 to 20, also to give way to the arrival of heads of state.

    The airline gave passengers on the cancelled flights the option to rebook within 30 days of the date of their original flight schedule or get a refund.  Affected flyers may also avail of a credit shell within 90 days of the cancelled flight.

    A credit shell, according to Air Asia, is “a credit account where monies paid towards a booking  are stored.” The number issued, which is practically the booking number, in a credit shell account that may be used by passengers to transfer flights.

  • AirAsia India Rolls Out Promotional Fares Starting Rs 1,269

    AirAsia India Rolls Out Promotional Fares Starting Rs 1,269

    Budget carrier AirAsia India has yet again rolled out a promotional fare scheme, offering tickets as low as Rs 1,269 (all-inclusive). The offer ends on November 8, 2015 and is applicable on travel between January 15 and April 30, 2016.

    Under this AirAsia offer, tickets on Bengaluru to Kochi route are priced from Rs 1,269 (all-inclusive). Tickets on Bengaluru to Goa route is priced from Rs 1469 and Bengaluru to New Delhi at Rs 3,469.

    Its parent AirAsia is also offering fares starting from Rs 3,399 (all-inclusive) on overseas routes as part of a separate promotional scheme. This offer is open till November 8. For example, tickets from Kochi to Kuala Lumpur are priced from Rs 3,399.

    Many airlines have come up with promotional fares to tap the festive season demand.

    Air India’s offer christened ‘Diwali Dhamaka’ is valid till November 7 for travel between January 15 and April 15, 2016. Earlier, SpiceJet had also come up with ‘Diwali Sale’ with fares staring at Rs 749 (base fare-excluding taxes) for domestic sector and from Rs 3,999 (all-inclusive) on international sectors.

    Airlines have rolled out many promotional fares this year on the back of a sharp fall in oil prices. Domestic airlines in the first nine months of this year – January to September – have carried 590 lakh passengers, a growth of 20 per cent.

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  • Sydney hosts Indonesia AirAsia X

    Sydney hosts Indonesia AirAsia X

    Sydney Airport has welcomed low-cost carrier Indonesia AirAsia X for the first time, as the airline launched its five-weekly Sydney-Bali (Denpasar) service.

    “We’re pleased to welcome Indonesia AirAsia X to Sydney, providing more choice for Sydneysiders travelling to Bali, as well as greater connectivity to Indonesian and Asian destinations from the airline’s Bali hub,” Sydney Airport managing director and chief executive officer Kerrie Mather said.

    “We’re thrilled that Sydney Airport is now the world’s leading low-cost long-haul airport, with five international low-cost long-haul carriers.”

    Bali is Australia’s largest outbound leisure market. Around 416,000 Australians travelled from Sydney to Indonesia in the 12 months to July 2015, an increase of eight per cent on the prior corresponding period.

    “More than 555,000 passengers travelled between Sydney and Indonesia in the past year, and this new service will significantly increase capacity to one of Sydney’s favourite travel destinations in time for the summer holidays,” Ms Mather said.

    Indonesia AirAsia X CEO Dendy Kurniawan, who touched down in Sydney on the inaugural flight, operated by an A330-300 aircraft, said that Australia is an important market to Indonesia AirAsia X and the airline is committed to further strengthening its presence in Australia.

    “We are delighted to serve direct flights between Bali and Sydney, providing Sydneysiders the opportunity to explore Bali and beyond at affordable fares. From Bali, our guests can fly onwards to many exotic destinations within Indonesia such as Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya and Yogykarta,” Mr Kurniawan said.

    Indonesia AirAsia X is the fourth airline servicing the Sydney-Bali route

  • AirAsia Japan granted Air Operator’s Certificate

    AirAsia Japan granted Air Operator’s Certificate

    AirAsia Japan Co., Ltd. (CEO: Yoshinori Odagiri) recently announced that the airline has been granted the Air Operator’s Certificate by the Civil Aeronautics Act by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, under the air transport business, Japanese Aviation Law Article 100.

    AirAsia Japan is scheduled to commence operations from their base at Chubu Centrair International Airport in Aichi prefecture to Shin-Chitose Airport in Sapporo, Sendai Airport in Sendai and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei in Spring 2016.

    AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes said, “We are very excited to be back in Japan. We have fantastic partners here and we are united in the vision to change the way people travel in Japan. Centrair Airport is a fantastic base and with our new routes, we look forward not only to enable the Japanese to enjoy our direct destinations but to connect them to the rest of Asia and beyond on our extensive network.”

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  • AirAsia to revive Davao-Clark

    AirAsia to revive Davao-Clark

    Around two years since Davao-Clark flights were suspended, the budget airline Philippine’s AirAsia is gearing up to revive the route, a tourism officer said.

    Arwin Lingat, provincial tourism officer of Pampanga, said that AirAsia is working out to offer again the Davao-Clark, Pampanga flights.

    “Though it is still up for confirmation, there are plans to revive the flight from Davao-Clark and vice versa,” he said.

    He also pointed out that Davao-Clark Pampanga route has a big chance to be revived especially now that AirAsia inked an agreement with Davao tourism industry sector last September 30, 2015 during the recently-concluded 16th National Convention of the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (Atop) in SMX Convention Center, Lanang, Davao City.

    Davao City Tourism Operations Officer Lisette Marquez, for her part, said that the signing of agreement with Air Asia for a special arrangement for Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Events or Exhibitions (Mice) participants would mean an easier arrangement with no fee if the ticket holder wants the fare be upgraded or rebooked.

    The partnership between the city and Air Asia was signed during the formal launching of Mice Davao Program. The program is aimed to signify the city as a potential Mice destination in the country.

    In a report last 2013, budget airline Philippine’s AirAsia announced it will temporarily stop servicing the route starting October 9. The airline said the suspension was made to cushion the impact of losses made by its affiliate Zest Airways following the suspension order imposed by Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) last August 16, for safety violations.

    “The temporary suspension is primarily to manage costs following the recent grounding of Zest Air by Caap. This has affected many factors and allocating necessary resources such as aircraft and crew critical to ensure its recovery,” the airline said.

    Among the violations committed by Zest Air, as cited by Caap, were the series of occurrences like fuel overflow that affected several flight operations, refueling with passengers on board, excessive flight duty time of pilots, and failure to present an airman license during ramp inspection.

    Air Asia holds around 49 percent share in Zest Air.

    Flights from F. Bangoy International Airport, Davao City to Clark International Airport in Clark, Pampanga, is at four times a week.

    The airline route was suspended only after over a year of operations.

  • Indonesia AirAsia Will be No More

    Indonesia AirAsia Will be No More

    Indonesia AirAsia airline will end its operation in Indonesia as it will be merged with Indonesia AirAsia X. Suprasetyo, director general for air transportation at the Transportation Ministry, said this merger is to improve Indonesia AirAsia’s financial condition.

    According to Suprasetyo, the merger is to save Indonesia AirAsia from having its operating license revoked because by merging with AirAsia X, Indonesia AirAsia’s equity will not be negative. “Indonesia AirAsia X’s equity is not negative because it hasn’t been audited and its operation is still less than a year,” he said on Wednesday.

    Therefore, said Suprasetyo, after the merger, there will be no more Indonesia AirAsia. All AirAsia’s operations in Indonesia are under Indonesia AirAsia X that serves medium and long-distance flights. For that, Indonesia AirAsia X will submit new business plans and process route permits again so that they can use Indonesia AirAsia’s routes. “Indonesia AirAsia is no more,” he said.

    Indonesia AirAsia is one of 13 airlines that have negative equities, based on the Transportation Ministry’s inspection in July 2015. The ministry threatened to revoke their operating licenses if their equities were not positive until September 30.

    Indonesia AirAisa president director Sunu Widiyatmoko gave no answer when asked for confirmation, while PT Indonesia AirAsia X chief executive officer Dendy Kurniawan did not comment much and chose to wait for an official announcement from the ministry.

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  • AirAsia Now Offers Tickets at Rs 1,290 All-Inclusive

    AirAsia Now Offers Tickets at Rs 1,290 All-Inclusive

    AirAsia India has come up with yet another promotional offer and is offering tickets for Rs 1,290, inclusive of taxes.

    The travel period to avail the AirAsia offer is between January 15, 2016 – April 14, 2016 and tickets must be booked by September 27, 2015.

    While tickets from Bengaluru to Goa or to Kochi are available for Rs 1,290, fares from the IT capital to Delhi are priced at Rs 3,490. The AirAsia promotional offer is valid across its flying network.

    Airlines have been announcing with slew of offers almost every other week in a bid to garner market share in a fiercely competitive environment.

    These promotional schemes by airlines have ensured a spike in the number of people travelling by air. Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January to August 2015 were 523 lakh as against 433.24 lakh during the corresponding period of the previous year – a growth of 21 per cent.

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  • Air Asia starts Pattaya-Macau flights in November

    Air Asia starts Pattaya-Macau flights in November

    Air Asia says it will launch on November 27 a service connecting the Thai coastal resort of Pattaya direct with Macau.

    Air Asia’s website says the low-cost airline will make one return flight per day until October 29 next year.

    Air Asia already has four return services a day between Bangkok and Macau, and one return service a day between the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai and Macau.

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  • AirAsia flying high again

    AirAsia flying high again

    AirAsia Bhd has been facing strong headwinds lately. The budget carrier’s share price has been on a roller-coaster ride over the past couple of months, fluctuating dramatically.

    The airline’s shares have been under pressure for some time and plunged to 78 sen on Aug 26. Its share price has since rebounded sharply from that recent low, with analysts calling it an overshooting of its price during the selldown. AirAsia became a penny stock at the end of last month and stayed below the RM1 mark for about two weeks. Its share price has since rebounded, closing at RM1.31 yesterday.

    Year to date the counter has lost more than 50%.

    What triggered the quick recovery?

    Analysts say the recent selldown was overdone and the market has ignored the significant value of its portfolio comprising non-airline businesses within the group. In addition, they note that AirAsia’s fundamentals are intact and it is undervalued.

    Maybank Investment Bank Bhd analyst Mohshin Aziz concurs that the selldown was overdone and maintains a “buy” call on AirAsia with a target price of RM2.05.

    “It is a highly beaten down stock. Given the situation, it is the highest candidate (to be picked up by investors),” he tells StarBizWeek.

    Mohshin notes that AirAsia has been very active this year engaging the investment community by having meetings, teleconferences and so forth but to no avail as it shares continued to be beaten.

    “AirAsia is cheap. Cheapest in its history in US dollar terms and also the cheapest airline stock in the world currently,” he says.

    Mohshin says there is no point talking about valuations of AirAsia, as it is beyond fire sale.

    “We derived an alternative and tangible valuation methodology for AirAsia, given that the conventional ones are gaining no traction. We took the latest available appraised value of its fleet, net off its long-term debt and times it by the ringgit at RM4.3 to the dollar and we get an intrinsic value of RM1.34 per share. Basically, the metal value of the business is higher than the current market capitalisation.

    “Shareholders can make a nice 18% gain by just selling off the fleet whilst keeping the RM4.8bil of equity,” he remarks.

    It is worth noting that the US-based Wellington group of companies which had reduced their stakes in the low-cost carrier in June this year have started buying shares in AirAsia.

    According to the latest filings with Bursa Malaysia, Wellington Management International Ltd has 200.74 million shares, or 7.214% stake in AirAsia. Wellington Management Global Holdings Ltd has an indirect 228.19 million shares or 8.2% stake, while Wellington Group Holdings LLP has an indirect 278.99 million or 10.025% stake.

    The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) had on Sept 3 acquired 2.498 million shares in AirAsia but it disposed 892,500 on Sept 9.

    “AirAsia took a beating but it is now a V-shape recovery. Wellington and EPF are back. They have been buying and hopefully the worst is behind for AirAsia. The counter has been attracting high trading volume,” an analyst say.

    The turbulence comes not in just its shares being sold down. AirAsia is also battling with other issues such as the report by accounting research firm GMT Research that raised questions about related party transactions. GMT Research had highlighted problems with the company’s accounting practices and raised concerns regarding the firm’s cash flow, leverage and group structure.

    News that PT Indonesia AirAsia (IAA) may be shut down by the end of July also caused a panic among investors.

    AirAsia’s 49%-affiliate IAA has received a letter from Indonesia’s Transport Ministry laying out terms for it to ensure a positive equity position by July 31.

    Indonesia’s Transport Ministry has ordered 13 airlines to raise funds to reach positive equity positions out of concerns that a negative equity would affect safety oversight.

    Futhermore, the company’s latest quarterly results provided little cheer to investors. In the first six months to June 30, AirAsia’s net profit fell to RM392.36 mil from RM506.87 mil a year ago, with a relatively flat revenue of RM2.6bil.

    AirAsia is also battling the Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd (MAHB) over its operations at KLIA2. It was reported that AirAsia and MAHB would be having a “peace dinner” at the end of the month to resolve their disputes.

    Analysts, however, are not too optimistic that their differences could be resolved over a dinner. “One dinner cannot bury the hatchet. We will just have to wait and see,” one analyst says.

    Analysts believe that another concern weighing down AirAsia is the continued weakening of the ringgit against the strong greenback as about 70% of operating expenses and 80% of debt are US dollar-denominated. So far this year, ringgit has weakened by about 20% year-to-date.

    “We believe that one overhang over AirAsia’s share price performance year-to-date is the weakening of the ringgit against the US dollar.

    “We estimate that 64% of operating expenses (jet fuel, MRO and aircraft leasing) are US dollar denominated. As 8% of operating costs are hedged to reduce the impact from US dollar over ringgit volatility, the impact of every 5% drop in the ringgit equals to an increase in operating cost by 3%. Separately, 73% of its US dollar borrowings are hedged,” MIDF Research says.

    At 50%, jet fuel constitutes the largest operating cost component for AirAsia.

    AirAsia’s exposure to spot jet fuel is 49% in fourth quarter 2015 (51% hedged) and 100% in FY16 (fully unhedged). Thus, the impact on a 5% drop in jet fuel price reduces operating cost by 1.2% in fourth quarter 2015 and 2.5% in FY16.

    MIDF Research also notes that daily short value on AirAsia has reduced from a daily average of RM706,000 in the first week of September to RM335,000 in the second week of September.

    “This is also a major improvement from RM1mil to RM2mil average seen in previous months. We also believe that short sellers have been covering their positions by buying back the stock as share price rose 60% off its 77 sen low, typical in a short-squeeze situation,” it says.

  • AirAsia’s Indonesian affiliate plans debt-to-equity conversion

    The Indonesian affiliate of Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia Bhd is planning to convert debt into shares to meet a new government rule on equity.

    The debt will be converted into preference shares which carry no voting rights, Sunu Widyatmoko, President Director of PT Indonesia AirAsia, told Reuters in a text message.

    He declined to disclose the amount to be converted as it is pending approval from the Indonesia investment coordinating board.

    Indonesia AirAsia is among several airlines that have until Sept. 30 to meet Indonesia’s “positive equity” rule after the country’s transport ministry extended the deadline from July 31.

    The ministry previously said 13 airlines had “negative equity” – meaning assets used to secure loans were worth less than the outstanding balance of the loans. It said those airlines risked suspension if they did not turn equity positive.

    AirAsia shares jumped as much as 5.4 percent in early trade, outperforming the benchmark index which was down 0.6 percent.- Reuters