A Malaysian woman walks past an AirAsia advertisement at Kuala Lumpur Sentral railway station in Kuala Lumpur on May 26, 2016. Malaysia's Budget carrier AirAsia was expected to announce its first quarter results on the back of lower oil prices on May 26. / AFP PHOTO / MOHD RASFAN
PETALING JAYA: AirAsia Bhd is in the process of appointing advisors to evaluate the proposed sale of its aircraft-leasing business Asia Aviation Capital (AAC).
AirAsia group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said the group was also in the midst of beefing up AAC’s senior management team in order to raise the company’s value.
“Once the evaluation is done, we will present it to the board to decide whether it will be a full or partial sale,” he told a media briefing after witnessing the delivery of an A330 CAE 7000XR Series full-flight simulator at the Asian Aviation Centre of Excellence (AACE) in Petaling Jaya on Friday.
Fernandes said AirAsia had appointed three banks to conduct the sale and there had been significant interest in AAC with a ready offer in hand valued at about US$1bil.
He said AAC’s business had been growing rapidly with its team now competing with very established leasing companies to get third-party airline deals.
Commenting on the new simulator, the first of its kind in Asia-Pacific and installed at the AACE training centre in Glenmarie, he said this would bode well for the airline considering it had been pushing to recruit more pilots.
“AACE was originally a training school for AirAsia pilots, cabin crew and maintenance technicians.
“Now other airlines are training here too and it is only 40% occupied by AirAsia,” he added.
AACE is a joint venture between AirAsia and Canadian simulation technologies manufacturer CAE Inc.
CAE Civil Aviation Training Solutions Group President, Nick Leontidis, said the company invested up to US$11mil in the A330 CAE 7000XR Series full-flight simulator.
“Going forward, there will be stronger demand for simulators in the region in line with the growing number of aircraft,” he added. - Bernama
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