AirAsia survives; aims to thrive

I have always enjoyed flying with AirAsia; a budget airline that gets you from A to B with minimal fuss, and serves tasty food in the air.

Now it looks as if the cash-strapped carrier is coming out of the pandemic in style, having completed a rights issue that raised US $233 million.

The airline group is now predicting a "strong rebound in air travel across Asean nations in 2022, Travel Mole reports.

The fund-raising was supported by group CEO Tony Fernandes and other existing shareholders, and adds to a guaranteed loan from Malasyian state-owned Danajamin Nasional Bhd.

"After the most challenging two years in commercial aviation history, the end is finally within reach," Fernandes said.

"We have survived the pandemic. We have restructured, relaunched and are now in a stronger position to recover faster.

"We have used the downtime in flying to review every aspect of our airline operations with a strict focus on cost containment and implementing an optimal network and fleet strategy to put in place a solid platform to return to the skies leaner and stronger than ever in all key markets." 

Fernandes says AirAsia's transformation into a "digital travel and lifestyle services group" isn’t solely reliant on air travel alone, giving it a "more robust and resilient business model for the future."

AirAsia was last year named World’s Leading Low Cost Airline for the ninth year in a row and World’s Leading Low Cost Airline Cabin Crew for the fifth consecutive year at the World Travel Awards 2021.