AirAsia strengthened its position by planning to fully reactivate its 204 aircraft which were stored during pandemic.
According to AirAsia Philippines, the announcement came from Capital A CEO Tony Fernandes to bring back the planes and restart its operations.
The planned reactivation was supported by a refreshed agreement with its long-term partner and engine provider, CFM International.
AirAsia said CFM's focus on improving fleet stability on site and 24/7 virtual monitoring of AirAsia's LEAP-1A engine operation provides a crucial catalyst for AirAsia to reinstate its full fleet across the (AirAsia) Group.
"After over two years of Covid, we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We have made enormous strides in bringing back our planes and restarting our operations, balancing a mismatch of the cost of 204 planes and the revenue of flying 143 planes on average this year. Today, we have brought back 175 planes ... We look forward to fourth-quarter results when we're going to see the real performance of AirAsia with the full fleet," Fernandes said in a statement.
According to industry researcher, Cirium, more than 16,000 passenger jets are grounded worldwide as the impact of corona virus pandemic was heavily felt across the industry, and obliterates travel and puts unprecedented strain on airline finances.
"We are very pleased with the latest development on our engine supplier and service provider. This will accelerate our plan to bring capacity back, in fact, more than 2019, as we will be more efficient. This will allow for higher utilization of planes with less downtime and more consistent flight schedules with better on-time performance, and enable more efficient use of spares with our engineering arm, ADE," Bo Lingam, Group CEO of AirAsia Aviation said.
Gael Mèhuest, president of CFM International said, "AirAsia has been a valuable CFM customer for nearly two decades and we are delighted to support them and their plans to fully reactivate their fleet. We take AirAsia's trust as a great responsibility to keep supporting their fleet with the high-level CFM standards."
The low-cost carrier looks forward to capitalizing on this achievement, as the airline reinstates its 204 fleet and increases its capacity to over 300 planes within the next five years.
This expansion enables the company to futher facilitate travel for individuals across the ASEAN region and beyond, by offering accessible, affordable and best-value travel options.
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