AirAsia establishes regional base in Jakarta, AirAsia Asean

Friday, 15 June 2012 01:41 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

AirAsia has established a new regional base in Jakarta called AirAsia Asean.

Tony Fernandes, AirAsia’s Group Chief Executive Officer said, “To avoid any misinterpretation, let me be very clear: AirAsia Malaysia’s headquarters is not moving to Jakarta.

Tony Fernandes, AirAsia’s Group Chief Executive Officer

AirAsia Malaysia is a Malaysian-registered airline, with all its aircraft registered under the Malaysian flag and it is a company listed on Bursa Malaysia. That will not change. AirAsia is committed to upholding our pledge to Malaysians that “Now Everyone Can Fly”. The establishment of the AirAsia Asean office in Jakarta as our regional base is to help to more fully deliver on that pledge to all the people of ASEAN and beyond.

“We are blessed to be located in a part of the world where economic growth is expected to be sustained despite the chilly economic winds blowing through Europe and the United States. Shifting AirAsia’s emphasis to a regional strategy is, we believe, not just good business, but also a move that will keep us ahead of the inevitable competition that is heading our way. But while others focus largely on trying to gain market share in domestic markets, we seek to expand our footprint throughout the region. After all, no single domestic market in ASEAN, not even Indonesia, can match the potential of a regional ASEAN market of 600 million people and a combined East Asian market of two billion,” added Fernandes.

“Take this as an example: AirAsia Malaysia currently has a fleet of 58 A320s, serving a population of 30 million and earning revenues of more than RM 1 billion. AirAsia Thailand has a fleet 24 aircraft while AirAsia Indonesia has just 18 aircraft. Thailand’s population at 70 million is more than twice that of Malaysia, while Indonesia is home to 240 million people living in one of the fastest growing economies in Asia. I believe Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital city, is by itself home to around 15million - half of Malaysia’s entire population. Then add Philippines, with its 90 million people spread across a vast archipelago, and where AirAsia Philippines now has just two aircraft. The LCC penetration in Japan is a mere 7 percent, and AirAsia Japan is launching in Tokyo with just one aircraft. Just one look, and it is clear where our future growth is going to come from. Malaysia is a maturing market, while Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Japan offer tantalizing possibilities for the group’s bottom line,” Fernandes said.

“AirAsia Asean will serve as the ‘nerve centre’ of our regional expansion. It will operate very much like how the Ryanair office in Dublin, Ireland, serves as the strategic planning centre of Europe’s largest LCC. AirAsia Asean will also help us to ensure that our voice, our concerns and our appeals are heard much more clearly in the corridors of power within ASEAN. In fact, one of the reasons for locating the office in Jakarta is to help us engage more closely with the ASEAN Secretariat, which is headquartered in Indonesia’s capital city. Locating our regional base in Jakarta is also likely to have the beneficial effect of helping raise the profile and branding of AirAsia Indonesia, which is heading for a listing on the Jakarta Stock Exchange by the end of the year.”