AirAsia Eyes 15 New A321neos, Teases Southeast Asia Units
Originally published on Airways
AirAsia (AK) has announced that it will lease 15 Airbus A321neos. This addition is the first significant fleet expansion for the carrier since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new addition to the fleet comes as the AirAsia group is looking into launching two more units in Southeast Asia.
The president of AirAsia, Bo Lingam, commented that the new aircraft deliveries would start at the end of 2023. The aircraft will be designated for use in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. The comment came days after the leader of AirAsia’s parent company, Capital A, Tony Fernandes, was quoted in a Reuters report, saying that the airline is looking to add 15 aircraft to its fleet amid the reopening of China.
At the start of 2023, China lifted the majority of the travel restrictions it had imposed during the pandemic. AK has restored almost half of its pre-pandemic flights to China, and the airline hopes to return to full pre-pandemic capacity by the third quarter of 2023. In addition, the leased aircraft will give the airline a short-term capacity boost as it waits for its Airbus A321neos to be delivered. The group has over 300 Airbus A321neos on order.
During the pandemic, the carrier did not grow its fleet and returned or retired several aircraft as their leases ended. The group is currently adding stored aircraft back to its fleet. It has 150 aircraft returned to operations out of 200 aircraft. According to the airline, by August, the airline will have all of its aircraft put back in service.
On February 8th, Fernandes also teased plans for the group to add two more units in Southeast Asia. He added that the two new units would arrive in late 2024 and complete the airline plan for Southeast Asia.
Although he did not disclose where the units would be based, the remaining countries without an AirAsia unit are Vietnam, Laos, Singapore, Brunei, and Myanmar. This comes as AK is creating a new unit in Cambodia which is the first new unit set up by the airline in over ten years. AirAsia plans to launch operations by the end of 2023.
