Air Asia drops SYD-KUL

[Quickstatus]

The plot thickens
And will Air Asia take delivery of the A220?

 

[kpc]

The plot thickens
And will Air Asia take delivery of the A220?

View attachment 521439

Looks like Air Asia could go into bankruptcy esp if the Iran war continues and jet fuel prices remain high. Probably not a great time to book any Air Asia flights more than a month or 2 ahead

A shame really as they do provide really affordable fares domestically and regionally which I have used a fair bit in the past!

 

[moa999]

Jet fuel has dropped somewhat from the March/ April highs, and as we are now 6 months in the hedges that Malaysian have are rolling off so both will be in a similar position. So if airfares hold (and thats a big if in a price sensitive/ elastic region) then the shirt term outlook is better, but still a lot of debt to roll.

Very similar to Air Baltic that also didn't hedge, and has just gone into US bankruptcy protection (Latvian airline with 50 A220-300s).

https://www.reuters.com/world/airbaltic-files-chapter-11-bankruptcy-new-york-2026-09-14/

But neither MH or Batik Malaysia are I suspect in any position to scale up operations quickly.
MH made US$34m profit last year.
Batik is private but also doesn't hedge, so I suspect is in the red, and the 51% Malaysian owners mostly consist of the current CEO.

 

[Quickstatus]

But neither MH or Batik Malaysia are I suspect in any position to scale up operations quickly.

To scale up, they need airframes.

 

[elanshin]

To scale up, they need airframes.

He means if they absorb Air Asia which the other post is hinting that they're exploring.

 

[Quickstatus]

He means if they absorb Air Asia which the other post is hinting that they're exploring.

Exactly, they would need airframes. Perhaps the airframe lease would carry over.
But the cost problem remains regardless of who takes it over. If AirAsia cant pay its bills, Im not sure who can.....

Perhaps it will downsize and stay alive.

 

[JustSlash]

It would be sad to see AA go bust, and I genuinely hope that doesn’t happen.

That said, the last few times I’ve compared AA with MH and other full-service airlines, the price difference has been surprisingly small and sometimes to the point where you’d rather just pay a little extra and go with the full-service option.

I think that says quite a lot, because back in the day AA was so much cheaper that you were happy to sacrifice a bit of comfort and luxury for the savings. Nowadays, when the difference is only minor, you start thinking… might as well get the luggage, food and a bit more comfort for the journey!

 

[Rayesfeg]

Slighty OT, but I was impacted by these cancelations and Air Asia refunded me the cost of my flights + seat selection + other extras. The problem is that the charge and refund were both denominated in USD. The currency conversion rate had changed to be worse off for me so the AUD amount that I was refunded was less than what I was charged.
I suspect that I will just have to wear the cost, but just putting it out there if anyone else has experienced this and if they have done anything about it to recover the loss?
I'm sure my bank will laugh in my face if I ask them to refund me the difference, it doesn't meet the criteria for a dispute and I highly, highly doubt Air Asia would care.
If anyone has experienced similar and had a successful outcome, I'd love to hear how you got it.

 

[moa999]

I think unfortunately the contract terms will be in MYR or USD so you'll have to ware the difference.

 

[Saab34]

The plot thickens
And will Air Asia take delivery of the A220?

I don’t know why Airbus even bothers with them. If you cycle back they have essentially renegotiated, changed, delayed, cancelled every order they have ever had with Airbus.

350 odd A321s. 150 220s. I think Tony gets a bit lost in entrepreneur land. No way in hell they will ever get all these.

If you go searching you will see they are actually offloading all the NEOs they have in the fleet today to an airline in Vietnam.

 

[Quickstatus]

It would be sad to see AA go bust

I know what you mean but
AA = American Airlines
AK = Air Asia , and they have other codes for their subsidiaries. For example Air Asia X was D7

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Has Vietjet partly ruined them do we think?

 

[moa999]

Good summary of the history of AAG

Timeline: From budget-airline pioneer to financial strain - how did AirAsia get here?

Bought for RM1 in 2001, AirAsia grew from a struggling Malaysian carrier into one of Asia’s best-known low-cost airline groups, but more than two decades later, it is facing mounting financial pressure from debt and rising fuel costs.

www.channelnewsasia.com

 

[Saab34]

Has Vietjet partly ruined them do we think?

Vietjet has billions behind them. AirAsia doesn’t.

AirAsia actually is fine as a medium sized carrier with its Malaysian and Thai offshoots, which do have potential. It’s Phil and Indo offshoots are a disaster though.