AirAsia has come out with significant news today as they plan to operate the world’s first global low-cost carrier, with big growth plans ahead.
Such news was revealed during a visit by Airbus Commercial Aircraft CEO Christian Scherer at the airline’s HQ in Sepang.
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
Covering All Corners of the World…
Such plans for a global low-cost carrier from AirAsia would see a lot more coverage going into the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Destinations of note would be the likes of Manchester, Copenhagen, Moscow, Barcelona, Miami and Toronto amongst others.
The airline believes this will be more than feasible under the current business model they operate in, featuring a unique multi-hub strategy for the carrier.
If these plans come to fruition, then it could provide a new look at the way passengers travel around the world.
AirAsia Would Become Dominating Force Globally…
It could be argued that if this was to happen, then AirAsia could become a dominating force globally.
On the one hand, based on the destination spread on offer, they would have to operate to more destinations in order to be level with the likes of Emirates, Qatar Airways and other carriers that operate to 100+ destinations.
That being said though, the proposed destinations internationally is a very strong list, that could definitely develop into more.
Obviously, once that proposed network is filled through additional aircraft received, then of course there will be scope for additional growth later down the line.
But the important factor in this, is that it will change the AirAsia brand on a more global scale, which is what CEO Tony Fernandes will want to achieve by any means necessary.
Airbus Appears To Be Key To The Overall Strategy…
It makes sense that this announcement was made in the presence of Airbus Commercial Aircraft CEO Christian Scherer.
This is because for this low-cost global model to work, they will be using Airbus A321neo, LR, XLR & A330neos to help facilitate this growth.
Fernandes said the following on the heavy use of Airbus aircraft to achieve these plans:
“All of our achievements, including becoming one of the largest and most popular airlines in the world, have been possible with our great partnership with Airbus.”
“Their versatile aircraft provide the best fit for our network expansion plan, with the continuous developments and improvements to the aircraft, improved fuel efficiency, increase in payload and in range capabilities, all of which offer unrivalled economics for our commitment to consistently deliver best value, high quality service.”
“We look forward to expanding our narrow-body fleet with the introduction of the A321XLR and exploring opportunities with the A321LR, which will gradually replace our workhorse A320 predecessor over the coming years from our key hubs including Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila and more.”
“These new specification aircraft will enable greater flexibility on existing short to medium-haul routes and network expansion to places we have never flown before, including to exciting secondary markets such as North Asia, Australia and Central Asia from Southeast Asia.
“With our wide-body Airbus A330 fleet including the introduction of A330neo, we are also looking to expand our medium to long-haul network to the European continent, to cities like London, Paris, Amsterdam, Bratislava, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Africa (Cairo, Nairobi, Cape Town), East Coast North America (New York, Miami, Toronto) via Europe and West Coast North America (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver) via Japan.”
“Our commitment to Airbus never faltered, even through the pandemic. As one of their biggest customers, we have an orderbook of 647 aircraft consisting of 612 A320 Family and 35 A330 Family aircraft with another 362 A321neo, 20 A321XLR and 15 A330neo to be delivered over the next decade as we set our sights on growing bigger than ever in the future.”
With a staggering orderbook of Airbus aircraft, you can begin to see how Tony Fernandes at AirAsia is aiming to achieve this.
Overall…
If Tony Fernandes can get these plans over the line, then it will no doubt revolutionise the way that passengers fly around the globe.
Such a strategy implementation is vital in the midst of global economic meltdown, where consumer spending isn’t as high as it used to be.
Incorporating a model like this will no doubt provide significant challenge to legacy carriers around the world, and will no doubt increase passenger numbers significantly.
All eyes will be on the years ahead for AirAsia, because if they can get this over the line, it’s a success story waiting to be replicated by competitors down the line.
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