KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia has announced its plan to fully reactivate its 204 aircraft supported by a refreshed agreement with its long-term partner and engine provider, CFM International.
In a statement today, the low-cost airline said CFM’s focus on improving fleet stability on-site and around-the-clock virtual monitoring of AirAsia’s LEAP-1A engine operation provided a crucial catalyst for AirAsia to reinstate its full fleet across the group.
It said AirAsia look forward to capitalise on this achievement as it reinstated its 204-fleet and expand to above 300 aircraft in the next five years, continuing to connect people across ASEAN and beyond with affordable and best-value travel options.
Capital A chief executive officer (CEO) Tony Fernandes said the company has made enormous strides in bringing back their planes and restarting operations, balancing a mismatch of the cost of 204 planes and the revenue from flying an average of 143 planes this year.
"CFM’s fleet stability support brings a vital catalyst for us to return to full activation. I am proud of Asia Digital Engineering (ADE), our own engineering facility, and want to thank each and every one of our engineers for not only handling day-to-day work but also focusing on the group’s aircraft reactivation work.
"We look forward to fourth-quarter results when we're going to see the real performance of AirAsia with the full fleet,” he said.
Meanwhile, CFM International president and CEO Gael Meheust said AirAsia has been a valuable customer for nearly two decades and the company is delighted to support them and their plans to fully reactivate their fleet.
"We take AirAsia’s trust as a great responsibility to keep supporting their fleet with the high-level CFM standards,” he added. - Bernama
