AirAsia sees Phl unit as a jewel

MANILA, Philippines - Low cost carrier giant AirAsia Group of Malaysia believes that it has a “jewel” in its Philippine operations as it gears up for a refleeting program in 2016 after maximizing its existing fleet next year.

AirAsia Group chairman Tony Fernandes is optimistic about the growth potential of AirAsia Philippines where the Malaysian budget airline has a 40 percent interest.

“I am really optimistic that we got a little jewel here and the more and more time I spent in the Philippines I begin to see that there is so much potential on various things that we haven’t thought about,” Fernandes said.

According to him, he is still not satisfied by the performance of its unit in the Philippines.

“It won’t be easy but I am beginning to see that the pain that we have gone through is worth it. It has been a rough ride I am not going to pretend that it has been a walk in the park,” he added.

Fernandes personally went to Tacloban last Friday to hand over funds of close to P100 million that was raised to help survivors of Super Typhoon Yolanda that ravaged several provinces in the Visayas region last year.

He pointed out that AirAsia Philippines acquired a stake in Zest Airways Inc. of former Ambassador Alfredo Yao last year allowing it to fly out of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) instead of the Clark International Airport in Pampanga. The airline has since been rebranded as AirAsia Zest.

“It has been hard because Clark did not work and we thought Clark would be easier but the market was not prepared to go that far. We have to acquire ZestAir and an acquisition is something that I have never done before,” he said.