Discount airline AirAsia aims to replicate Dubai’s success in global connectivity, but with a low-cost model centered in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, marking a new chapter as it moves past the challenges of the pandemic.
Founder Tony Fernandes envisions routing connecting passengers through the airports of Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur to access various destinations served by AirAsia and its long-haul subsidiary, AirAsia X. He mentioned that AirAsia’s niche lies in flights ranging from one and a half to six hours.
“Innovatively, I plan to establish a hub in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok similar to those in Dubai and Qatar,” Fernandes stated in an interview in Bangkok. “While Bangkok has some hub functionality and Singapore is a well-known hub, these are mainly premium hubs. No one has ventured into creating a low-cost hub.”
The airline faced significant challenges during the pandemic, leading to a restructuring of its debt, layoffs, and the return of aircraft to lessors. Its parent company, Capital A Bhd, abandoned plans to list via a blank-check firm and will instead merge with its sister unit, AirAsia X Bhd, while reducing its share capital by $1.4 billion to exit the Malaysian stock exchange’s financial distress classification.
Fernandes is optimistic about a full recovery by next year and predicts that 2026 will be the industry’s “golden year.” Geopolitical issues have influenced travel trends, with more people opting to fly within Asia rather than to the US or Europe, he noted.
“We endured five difficult years, but we’re back and ready to grow,” Fernandes explained. The company has successfully rehired all 2,600 employees it had to lay off during the pandemic and now boasts a workforce of 23,000.
In addition to boosting connecting traffic through the planned hubs in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, Fernandes anticipates growth by enhancing routes to secondary cities, highlighting flights from Chiang Mai to China as an example. Recently, AirAsia X launched its first service to the African continent as it seeks to expand beyond Asia.
