Airline Tycoon Fernandes’ AirAsia Aims To Get Fleet Back To Pre-Pandemic Level By Year-End

Airline tycoon Tony Fernandes said on Wednesday that his budget carrier AirAsia expects to add enough planes by the end of the year to get back to its pre-pandemic level as amid a continuing rebound in travel demand.

Fernandes, who’s long led AirAsia, talked about reaching the pre-Covid number on the sidelines of the Forbes Global CEO Conference in Jakarta. The company aims to have 220 operational aircraft by the end of this year, from 187 at the end of 2024, to cater to the strong passenger demand.

“We have 20 more planes to fix to get AirAsia back into where we were before Covid,” said Fernandes, CEO of Capital A, a holding company that controls AirAsia.

In 2024, the airline carried 63 million passengers — a 28% increase from the previous year. Revenue rose 39% year-on-year to 19 billion ringgit ($4.4 billion), helping EBITDA more than double to 3.2 billion ringgit.

Capital A is also in the process of restructuring the group. By next year, It aims to finish merging its airline affiliates across Southeast Asia in a deal valued at 6.8 billion ringgit ($1.4 billion).

“I hope it’s coming close to being completed, if I were to put it on a plane, I will say we are on the runway and ready for take-off,” Fernandes said.

After the recovery, Fernandes is also setting the company up for growth. The company signed a deal in July to order 70 Airbus A321XLR narrow-body aircraft worth $12.25 billion to support the expansion of its global low-cost carrier network.

“We want to be the first low-cost carrier that goes around the world, that is my last chapter,” the 61-year-old Fernandes said.

Building AirAsia has been an adventure for Fernandes and cofounder Kamarudin Meranun. In 2001, they acquired the fledgling two-airplane outfit and transformed it into one of Southeast Asia’s biggest budget carriers. Air-Asia’s success catapulted Fernandes, who got his start at Richard Branson’s Virgin Music before joining Warner Music, where he worked for 12 years.

He was named Forbes Asia’s Businessman of the Year in 2010 and put the partners on the list of Malaysia’s 50 Richest. But they dropped off in 2021 as the carrier’s share price tumbled after the pandemic disrupted travel around the world.