The Malaysian Insight

MORALE at AirAsia is still high despite the huge impact on the company by the Covid-19 pandemic, said AirAsia Group Bhd chief executive officer Tony Fernandes.

“No one is giving up, despite these tough times, and we are coming back stronger.

“The culture that we have built in the past 18 to 19 years (is still here). Now is the time you see the fruits of it,” he said during the Battle of the Bulge charity squash cheque presentation in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

In October, AirAsia and AirAsia X confirmed they would retrench 10% of their 24,000 employees.

Fernandes said previously that the move to terminate the services of the staff had to be undertaken given the reality of the aviation sector, which is facing difficulty in near-term recovery.

The aviation tycoon said that the group was expected to operate on a smaller scale and the budget carrier would try to rescue as many of its laid-off staff as possible.

AirAsia Group passenger volume dropped by 85% to 1.91 million during the third quarter (Q3) of 2020, from 13 million in the same quarter last year.

Against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, the load factor for the group decreased to 66%, it said in a stock exchange quarterly report.

On a monthly basis, the low-cost carrier said its key operational metrics improved in September compared with July, with higher passengers recorded in its operations in Malaysia, India and Thailand, which increased by 36%, 79% and 65%, respectively.

AirAsia Malaysia operated at 52% of its domestic capacity in September, compared with 40% in July. This was due to the upward trajectory in travel demand since Q2, that came with the easing of restrictions on interstate travel.

In November, airasia.com partnered with Turkish Airlines to enhance its pan-Asia flight network in anticipation of a potential revival in international travel.

The collaboration allows AirAsia to tap into Turkish Airlines’ comprehensive destination map, which is the world’s largest in terms of the countries and international points flown by a global carrier. Both airlines will also do work together on promoting destinations.

Fernandes said the collaboration was in preparation for when borders reopen. – December 19, 2020.