Cebu Pacific is set to restore 100% of its pre-Covid network and capacity by March 2023. It now flies to 34 domestic destinations and is set to bring back all its 25 international destinations before the end of the first quarter.
To support the return of domestic flights, the low-cost airline bundles fares to offer passengers a discount of up to 28% on their baggage, seat, and CEB Flexi fees when booking directly through the airline booking website.
CEB offers three fare bundle options; Go Basic, Go Easy, and Go Flexi.
On the Go Basic option, you pay for your fare and get one hand-carry baggage weighing up to 7 kg for free. With Go Easy, you can choose your standard seat and check in one piece of baggage weighing up to 20 kg.
Score the biggest discount on your seat and baggage fees and automatically get a CEB Flexi add-on with Go Flexi. This allows you to cancel your flight, store its amount in your Travel Fund, and get all the benefits of the Go Easy bundle.
Each fare bundle must be purchased at the initial booking for the discount to apply. CEB Fare Bundles cannot be refunded, transferred to another passenger, or stored in a Travel Fund without a purchased CEB Flexi add-on.
Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet incurred losses of VND10 trillion (US$423.7 million) and VND2.17 trillion last year mainly due to higher fuel prices and forex volatility.
Vietnam Airlines reported consolidated revenues of VND71 trillion, higher than the combined revenues of 2020 and 2021 but only 70% of pre-pandemic levels.
Last year, its losses of VND10 trillion took its accumulated losses to VND34 trillion.
Vietjet reported revenues of VND39.34 trillion, more than triple the 2021 figure.
The average price of jet fuel jumped to $130 per barrel last year from $72 the previous year. At one time in mid-2022 it was selling at over $160.
The increase in bank interest rates and the soaring dollar also contributed to losses.
Vietnam Airlines lost over VND2.25 trillion due to exchange rate differences last year as against only VND173 billion the previous year.
Vietjet incurred exchange rate losses of roughly VND570 billion in the fourth quarter of last year compared with less than VND4 billion in the same period of 2021.
Two other carriers, Bamboo Airways and Vietravel Airlines, have not released their financial reports for 2022, but experts said they are unlikely to have made profits.
Vietnamese carriers transported 11 million foreign passengers in 2022, up 22 times from 2021 but down 70% from 2019, the year before the Covid pandemic began.
They also carried 55 million domestic passengers, up 3.7 times from 2021.
Many aviation-related service providers reported big profits, however.
Southern Airports Services JSC (Sasco) reported pre-tax profits of VND230 billion, up 77 times from 2021.
The profits of Saigon Ground Services (SGN) and Saigon Cargo Service Corporation (SCS) reached VND1 trillion and VND696 billion, respectively.
The Airports Corporation of Vietnam posted pre-tax profits of over VND8.8 trillion as against less than VND1 trillion the previous year.
Rookie carrier Vietravel Airlines wants to gradually increase its charter capital nearly sixfold to VND7.64 trillion ($323.66 million) by 2025.
The airline recently made this proposal to the government after two years of operating with a charter capital of VND1.3 trillion. It owns three narrow-body Airbus A321 jets.
Viettravel made this proposal to boost development and enlarge its fleet, Chairman Nguyen Quoc Ky said.
“Investing in fleet expansion is important for a new airline to survive and grow,” said Ky. “Only with a large fleet can we make profits.”
For the last two years Vietravel Airlines has not been profitable but it expects that with a larger fleet it can take advantage of an expected surge in demand after Covid-19.
The capital increase will come from a combination of shareholder investment, selling stakes to other investors, and financial tools.
Shareholders of Vietravel Airlines plan to invest an additional VND700 billion by 2025, bringing their total investment to VND2 trillion.
The airline also plans to increase its charter capital to VND8.25 trillion by 2030.
Viettravel projects that by 2030, if business is favorable, it could record a VND2.2 trillion in accumulated profit which it could use it to pump up its capital.
Vietnam Airlines reported a loss of VND10.09 trillion ($430.3 million) last year and blamed it on rises in fuel prices and exchange rate volatility.
Its revenues were worth around VND71 trillion, equivalent to 70% of revenues in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic hit but higher than the combined figures of 2020 and 2021.
As of last year the carrier had accumulated losses of VND34.2 trillion.
Yet it remains optimistic about 2023 since global markets have been recovering since late 2022 and said it would take measures to address the losses issues.
If you plan to travel to any destination in India within September 2023, we have an exciting surprise for you. If you feel like flight tickets are more expensive than your budget, you might be surprised to see the new AIX Connect prices. What is this new price and how can you get access to it? To know all about the recent updates of AIX connect, read till the end!
AIX Connect, previously known as AirAsia India, made a grand announcement of its newest discount. The airline launched the #TimeToTravel offer with a huge discount of flat 23% for all the flights on the domestic network. So, if you are in the mood to travel anywhere in India till September of this year, you definitely need to check out this deal.
AIX connect launched #TimeToTravel sale to influence and motivate more people to travel to beautiful destinations. From Kashmir in the North to Kerala in the South and from beaches to mountains to valleys, you can explore it all using this exciting discount by AIX connect.
AirAsia India network has more than 50 direct and 100 connecting flights to 18 places. Whether you are traveling for business purposes or for holidays and vacations, this airline provides great travel experiences to all passengers.
The weather is great right now to enjoy the holidays. India, being the home to such stunning locations, you can travel all around at any moment throughout the year. So, where are you flying to and fulfilling your travel expectations this year?
Stocks of Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet and other companies in the aviation industries have surged as the resumption of flights to China amid its relaxed Covid-19 policy boosted investors’ sentiment.
HVN of state-owned Vietnam Airlines closed last week at a ceiling price in its third session in the green and returned to the mid-October price range of around VND11,750 ($0.50).
Meanwhile, VJC of budget airline Vietjet, the only airline blue chip, gained 5% to close at VND111,500.
SAS of Tan Son Nhat Airports Services and AST of Taseco Airs, which mostly provide services at Noi Bai International Airport, all gained three sessions to close at VND22,000 and VND54,000, respectively.
These stocks gained after China relaxed its Covid-19 restrictions and several Vietnamese airlines, such as Vietnam Airlines and Bamboo Airways, announced a flight resumption to Chinese cities.
Analysts of brokerage VNDirect said earlier this month that the most damaging factor for Vietnam’s tourism and aviation recovery is China’s zero-Covid policy which has been strictly imposed in most of the last three years.
Chinese tourists accounted for 35% of total foreign tourists in Vietnam before the pandemic, and the figure is forecast to reach 20% in early next year before returning to the old level in early 2024, they added.
“As the earnings of Vietnamese aviation companies have a high dependency on international traffic, we believe that their figures will surge starting next year.”
Another reason for the surge in aviation stocks is an increasing number of investors buying the dip after the plunges.
It also warned that risks such as high oil prices, heavy competition and weakening travel demand due to a global economic slowdown might have impact on the recovery of aviation stocks.
In March, AirAsia launched a subscription service called Super+ that provides unlimited flights in Malaysia and across the ASEAN region as one of its main attractions. Fast forward to today, the service has been revamped to include long-haul flights from AirAsia X.
Instead of just a single option, the AirAsia Super+ subscription service has now been divided into two. The first, the Super+ Lite is the closest to the original iteration and promises unlimited flights to destinations across Southeast Asia.
That being said, the new Lite option is now priced much higher at RM888 per year. As a comparison, the original Super+ subscription costs RM639, which is a noticeable difference of RM249.
As for the long-haul AirAsia X flights have been put into the Super+ Premium option, which comes with a price tag of RM2,288 per year. Each option includes additional perks, such as unlimited 5% discounts on hotels available via the AirAsia platform.
AirAsia Super+ subscribers can also obtain 10% discounts on AirAsia Ride service in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. That being said, the discount on the AirAsia Ride is capped at RM2 in Malaysia while it is also capped at THB16 (~RM2.02) in Thailand and IDR6,500 (~RM1.84) in Indonesia.
Not to forget, Super+ Lite and Premium customers would also receive 800 and 2,000 AirAsia points, respectively. However, the original bonus perks, such as COVID-19 insurance coverage and free delivery on food orders no longer available with the newly revamped Super+ offerings.
Quite some policies from the original Super+ service have been retained for the revamp. Among them includes three no-shows limit, a 14-day advanced booking requirement, and no bookings for selected embargo periods.
While Super+ subscribers are able to book their flights from today onwards, the date for the flights starts from 1 January 2023. Unlike the original Super+ version from earlier this year, AirAsia did not announce any customer limit or purchase deadline for the revamped options but nevertheless, the CEO of Capital A, Tony Fernandes at the launch event today noted that the offering would not be made available forever.
The announcement of the newly revamped Super+ subscription service seemed rather timely, as Capital A has recently revealed its plan to offload the company’s aviation businesses which includes AirAsia Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines to AirAsia X. If the plan goes through, it will result in the creation of a new consolidated aviation group and may also help elevate both Capital A and AirAsia X out of their current PN17 classification by Bursa Malaysia.
After much anticipation, it’s been revealed that new Malaysian low-cost carrier MYAirline will begin flying in December 2022, with reports having confirmed approvals from the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) and Civil Aviation Authority (CAAM) for the company to start selling tickets.
Also, the airline took to its social media pages to hint at its very first flight destinations, which will most likely include Malaysian cities such as Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, and Langkawi, judging by the graphics in its posts.
This comes after the airline’s CEO Rayner Teo said that MYAirline would seek domestic air traffic rights, with flights to begin very soon after approvals.
“We’re hoping to start flying before the end of this year,” he said. “We’re looking at domestic destinations within the Peninsula.”
The airline — which currently has 330 employees and is still hiring — will look to start off its operations with three Airbus A320 aircraft flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2).
While all of the airline’s planes are currently under lease, Teo also revealed that the airline has the goal of increasing its fleet to 50 aircraft within the next four years.
As an aside, he mentioned that starting the company during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic was crucial to helping it learn from competitors about how to operate such a business and serve its customers better.
“A lot of feedback that we hear is that it’s hard to reach the airline after you have purchased a flight ticket,” heMYAirline explained. “As for us, we’ll ensure that our passengers can communicate with us effectively.”
“We won’t be looking at chatbots, but rather focus on human interaction. On-time performance is also something that we’ll focus on.”
With the travel industry now opening up around the world following the pandemic, flyers in Southeast Asia (especially Malaysia) will more than likely be pleased at the arrival of more competition in the space, especially when considering the many well-documented issues faced by travelers dealing with more established rivals like AirAsia.
Bamboo Airways posted a loss of VND3.54 trillion ($142.38 million) in the first nine months, exceeding the total loss it recorded last year by 54%.
Its loss has been increasing this year, from VND691 billion in the first quarter to VND1.39 trillion in the second and almost VND1.45 trillion in the third, according to calculations from a financial report of FLC, which owns a 21.7% stake in the airline.
Bamboo Airways went through major restructuring in the second and third quarter after its chairman was arrested in March for alleged stock manipulation.
Nguyen Ngoc Trong, who has been with the airline since its establishment in 2018, became its chairman in August, while Nguyen Manh Quan, who joined the airline in 2020, took over the CEO chair from Dang Tat Thang.
The airline in October moved its Ho Chi Minh City office from FLC’s building in District 3 to a Novaland building in District 1 after the property developer signed a strategic partnership with the airline.
Bamboo Airways said in July that it planned to triple its fleet size to 100 by 2028. The airline at the time operated 29 jets, comprising 21 narrowbody aircraft, three Boeing B787s and five Embraer 190 regional aircraft, according to aviation data website Planespotters.
Malaysia’s MYAirline plans to begin commercial operations by the end of this year, with its CEO saying it can sell cheaper fares than domestic rival AirAsia — the region’s leading low-cost carrier.
CEO Rayner Teo sees demand for low-cost air travel rising as Asia emerges from COVID pandemic restrictions. MYAirline hopes to stand out with cheaper tickets, better real-time customer support and punctual flights.
“We believe we can easily offer cheaper flights based on cost structure,” Teo, also the carrier’s co-founder, told Nikkei Asia in a recent interview at its humble operation center above a shopping mall in Subang Jaya, near the capital Kuala Lumpur.
Although MYAirline is the David to AirAsia’s Goliath, Teo and senior management are confident of their strategy, with some of them having gained experience at the airline owned by the Tony Fernandes-led Capital A.
Kathleen Tan, MYAirline’s chief executive adviser, logged 13 years working for Fernandes, who with another investor led the purchase of AirAsia in 2001 which eventually shook up the region’s travel industry with low cost fares and no frills service.
MYAirline’s cabin operations manager Mohd Izwan Razak, meanwhile, was on AirAsia’s payroll for 17 years. Teo himself worked at the airline for 15 years until July 2019, leaving as the group head of sales.
Teo said he had not planned to fill MYAirline with ex-AirAsia staff, but that he had simply recruited those who had lost their jobs or been placed on furlough, including pilots and cabin crew, over the last two years when airline operations were drastically reduced because of the pandemic.
MYAirline, which has received a license to operate from the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia, plans to start with three secondhand Airbus A320s, but aims to increase its fleet size to 50 within the next five years.
“We have signed some attractive deals with very large lessors,” Teo said, though he declined to provide details.
Capital A’s Fernandes has refrained from commenting when asked recently by reporters about the MYAirline venture and the competition it could bring.
Analysts say that MYAirline faces some challenges in competing on cost in an environment that includes established carriers AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines.
“The airline is being marketed as an ultra-low-cost carrier, which is an interesting concept as AirAsia’s average cost per seat is one of the lowest in the industry and hard to beat,” said Shukor Yusof of Endau Analytics.
Separately, Brendan Sobie, an independent aviation analyst, said that the start of MYAirline will intensify competition and bring back the problem of overcapacity that plagued Malaysia before the pandemic. Citing Malaysia Airports figures, Sobie said domestic passenger traffic in the country in August was at just 66% of pre-COVID levels in August of 2019, with international traffic at an even lower 38%.
“There will be some stimulation as fares decline, possibly to pre-COVID levels, but this is hardly sustainable given today’s high fuel cost environment,” he said. “Prior to the pandemic domestic yields were very low and none of Malaysia’s domestic airlines was profitable.”
Teo said the airline will use Kuala Lumpur International Airport as its central hub, plying domestic routes before expanding to international destinations after one year.
A check with the Companies Commission of Malaysia showed that MYAirline has two million shares at one ringgit each, amounting to 2 million ringgit ($430,000) in paid-up capital. Private firms Zillion Wealth and Trillion Cove Holdings — both owned by local businessman Goh Hwan Hua — have stakes of 88% and 10%, respectively, in the airline. Teo owns the remaining 2% share.
According to the website of money lender Trillion Cove, Goh who is listed as its CEO and director, has more than 20 years of experience managing information technology and application-related businesses in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. The site said he had been involved in various industries, including e-commerce, e-ticketing, fintech, retail and tourism.
Teo said owning a commercial airline has been a longtime dream of Goh’s.
“He has been asking me for the last seven years about the idea of forming an airline, and my answer has always been the same to him, that there are many ways to waste your money,” Teo said.
“But in October 2020, when he (Goh) asked again, I thought this was the best time” to start preparing, he added, referring to the collapse in the global aviation sector due to travel restrictions and border closures.
Bamboo Airways on Saturday appointed Nguyen Ngoc Trong who has worked for the airline since the early days of establishment as its new chairman.
Trong, 65, took the new position after his predecessor Dang Tat Thang resigned as chairman and general director.
Trong served as the first deputy general director of Bamboo Airways from 2018.
In April this year, he was appointed vice chairman after a series of senior leaders were arrested for allegedly manipulating the stock market.
He has more than 40 years of working experience in the aviation industry and has held many senior management positions at major firms like Vietnam Airlines, Vietnam Airlines Engineering Company, Vietnam Air Petrol Company Limited and Noi Bai Airport Services JSC.
Bamboo Airways currently operates nearly 170 flights a day on 40 domestic and 12 international routes.
The carrier plans to continue launching new international services to tourism markets in Asia, Europe and Australia.
It also plans to increase its fleet to 35 by the end of this year and triple its fleet size to 100 aircraft by 2028.
Malaysia’s AirAsia is facing a wave of complaints from customers who say they have still not been refunded for flights that were cancelled or rescheduled during the pandemic.
AirAsia and its subsidiary AirAsia X (AAX), both owned by Capital A Berhad, grounded thousands of flights in 2020 and 2021 after the Malaysian government shut state and international borders to curb the spread of COVID-19.
But months after the low-cost carrier resumed flights following the lifting of interstate and international border restrictions for Malaysians in October, hundreds of customers have taken to social media to complain of poor customer service and long waits for refunds.
Rohana Betak, 60, said she requested a refund of 4,000 Malaysian ringgit ($911) after the airline cancelled her flights between Senai and Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah state, following the introduction of a nationwide lockdown in March 2020.
Betak, who planned to visit the area around Mount Kinabalu, Southeast Asia’s highest peak, with her family in October 2021, said the airline’s automated online customer service only offered her the option of travelling on different dates. Betak decided against accepting the offer due to uncertainty over when restrictions would be lifted and concerns about catching COVID-19. Two years later, she says she is still waiting for her money back.
“In my request, I said it was fine to refund me credits for the booking but instead I was reminded in June 2020 that I must board the flight to Sabah on a different date and there would be no refunds,” Betak told Al Jazeera.
“It was not helpful because instead of offering me at least credit in refunds, it told me I had no other choice but to travel on different dates.”
Rohana Betak, pictured in a pink hat in the back row, says she has been waiting two years for a refund from AirAsia [Courtesy of Rohana Betak]
Travel to Sabah before October 2021 was strictly limited to certain categories of travellers, including those travelling for work and those born in the state. Rohana and her family did not fall under any exempted category.
“When it demanded I get on another flight, I asked if they wanted to send me and my family to our deaths?” Betak said. “It’s so frustrating and I am so tired of trying to get my money back so I’ve accepted that I might not get my money back at all.”
Many of the complaints have been directed towards AVA, AirAsia’s online chatbot, which is the only line of communication between customers and the airline for issues involving bookings or flights.
In particular, some have questioned why it is so difficult to reach customer service to request a refund, even for flights booked since the lifting of pandemic restrictions.
Customer Aulia Chaerisa Salleh said she is waiting for a refund for a flight between Batam and Jakarta that was booked earlier this month after she was informed no seat was available.
“I paid for my ticket and it did not register in the system so I tried to get my refund for my tickets. I tried the AVA live chat but it is not helpful at all. It has been days, I haven’t heard from them,” she said.
Under AirAsia’s current refund policy, the airline offers customers a refund, credit or a new travel date whenever a flight is cancelled or postponed.
AirAsia told Al Jazeera the airline is engaged in ongoing dialogue with consumer regulators across the region to ensure compliance with all local regulations.
“AirAsia Group’s policies are in line with many low-cost operators in the travel industry worldwide and are fully compliant with all regulatory requirements and as a customer-centric airline, we have focused on resolving all customer queries during the pandemic as soon as possible,” a spokesperson said.
The airline group said it has resolved more than 90 percent of refund requests and is committed to resolving a small number of outstanding claims as soon as possible.
“In Malaysia for example, our current refund progress is only left with 0.03 percent of the refund requests we received and we are looking forward to completing the refunds exercise for all outstanding queries within the next few months,” the spokesperson said, adding that the past two years had been the most challenging in the history of commercial aviation.
The spokesperson added that “our passengers remain our number one priority” and the airline will “continue to enhance our services to deliver the very best in terms of safe, affordable and reliable air travel”.
Tan Kok Liang, president of the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA), said the refunds backlog is a short-term issue and its 3,100 members will continue to book with AirAsia as long as requested by customers.
“The problem child is AAX and while air connectivity is crucial for tourism recovery, based on media reports, AirAsia should be held more accountable to all stakeholders,” Tan told Al Jazeera.
The hefty compensation paid out to airline co-founders Tony Fernandez and Kamarudin Maranun, who took home close to 30 million ringgit ($6.8m) combined last year, has also raised eyebrows.
Following the release of Capital A’s Annual Report 2021 last month, some social media users vented their frustrations on Fernandez’s personal Instagram accounts, with one comment slamming AirAsia as “the one and only airline that does not have a customer service phone number.”
Despite the generous executive compensation, AAX, the group’s long-haul carrier, was last year forced to undergo debt restructuring to save itself from liquidation after racking up huge debts during the pandemic.
In March, AAX announced it had completed its debt restructuring after creditors earlier agreed to a deal under which the airline would pay just 0.5 percent of outstanding debt and terminate existing contracts to restructureRM33.65 billion(US$8.1 billion) of liabilities.
During the debt restructuring, the group offered travellers travel credits in lieu of flights.
The Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM), however, urged the airline to reimburse customers for tickets purchased while threatening to exercise its powers under the Malaysian Aviation Commission Act 2015.
Capital A posted revenue of 1.7 billion ringgit ($387m) in the 2021 financial year, down 47 percent from the previous year, as capacity sank to just 36 percent of 2020 levels.
The accumulated loss of national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines climbed to VND21.98 trillion ($928.39 million) last year, roughly the same as its charter capital.
The airline was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic that saw borders closed and commercial flights suspended for two years.
It posted a loss of VND13.02 trillion last year alone, with revenue dropping 31 percent year on year to VND28.09 trillion.
The airline increased its charter capital by 56 percent to VND22.14 trillion last year by issuing 800 million shares, with the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) contributing an additional VND6.89 trillion.
The Commission for Management of State Capital at Enterprises (CMSC) now holds a 55.2 percent stake in the flag carrier, the SCIC 31.14 percent, and Japan’s ANA airline 5.62 percent.
The airline has been increasing the number of flights it operates since the beginning of this year as the government began lifting restrictions based on rising vaccination rates.
It operated 7,314 flights last month, up nearly 21 percent year-on-year.
The airline has proposed that the government raises the price cap for domestic travel from April 1 and add a fuel surcharge for local routes as fuel prices have soared in recent months.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam says carrier Bamboo Airways is operating normally, unaffected by the recent arrest of its ex-chairman Trinh Van Quyet.
The carrier’s key personnel, including pilots, cabin crew, and technical staff are complying with all regulations, it reported to the Ministry of Transport Thursday, after an emergency meeting with the airline’s management.
The meeting happened a day after the arrest of real estate giant FLC and Bamboo Airways chairman Trinh Van Quyet for alleged manipulation of his company’s share prices by using 20 different trading accounts to create fake demand.
Quyet is the largest shareholder of the airline, holding 55.5 percent of its charter capital, or VND3.89 trillion ($170.3 million). Bamboo Airways has a charter capital of VND7 trillion.
The aviation authority also assured that in the case Quyet’s assets were frozen, the carrier would still operate normally operational, as it meets the government’s minimum capital requirement of VND700 billion.
But it will keep a close watch on the carrier for the next three to six months to ensure safety and assess the impacts of Quyet’s arrest.
“The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam will support Bamboo Airways when necessary to help the airline overcome current difficulties, and maintain development,” it said.
On Thursday, FLC deputy chairman and Bamboo Airways’ general director Dang Tat Thang replaced Quyet as the airline’s new chairman until shareholders and the board of directors make a final decision.
Thang continues to retain his position as general director.
AirAsia is expecting an increase of more than 70 international flight volumes per week for the first week of border reopening starting on April 1.
AirAsia Malaysia chief executive officer Riad Asmat said the international flight number is expected to reach 250 weekly by the end of April.
“AirAsia welcomes the announcement by the Malaysian government to fully open international borders on April 1, we are ready.
“I believe the seamlessness of travel will happen sooner than later,” he told reporters in a media briefing on the airline’s preparation for border reopening here today.
He said since resuming its operations with travel bubbles and a focus on domestic services, the gradual resumption of international flying is already well underway in tandem with borders gradually reopening around the world.
With the continued easing of travel restrictions, the airline group has increased its domestic flight capacity by 156 percent since October 2021 kickstarted with the Langkawi travel bubble, and by 50 percent for international flights since the announcement of borders reopening in April is made by the government on March 8, 2022.
A total of 75 aircraft are operating currently group-wide, he said. This is also supported by the reopening of other countries like Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, Singapore and Vietnam, said Riad.
While the airline currently has a number of international services already operating, the announcement of the nation’s reopening will provide a welcome boost to support additional capacity in many of its core international markets in line with significant pent-up demand.
Meanwhile, AirAsia Aviation Group Ltd chief executive officer Bo Lingam said the airlines earnings is expected to go back to pre-Covid level presumably by the end of the year with the hope that the fuel price goes down by then.
“AirAsia applauds the governments around the region for their decision to reopen borders and remove travel restriction with minimal testing requirements.
“We are thrilled to be resuming more flights in all of our core markets in Malaysia, Thailand, the international destinations including Bali, Manila, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Phuket, and more, starting in April.
Domestic flying also continues to soar across the group with four new domestic routes launched in Malaysia, from Kuching to Langkawi, Penang to Sibu, Johor Bahru to Bintulu, and Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Terengganu this year, he said.
“Regionally, we have seen similarly encouraging developments for domestic and international services in Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. We will continue to review our network which evolves based on a number of factors including demand,” he said.
He added that new services will be announced in due course as the world continues to gradually reopen.
“While our domestic services across the group have grown by 156 per cent in recent months due to significant consumer demand, and by 50 per cent for international, we expect to return to 100 percent or more of pre-COVID domestic and international flying by the end of this year,” he said.
