AirAsia charts five-year strategy, shifts focus outside of Malaysia

AirAsia has unveiled its strategic five-year business review with an eye to further grow its dominance in the Asian region.

As Malaysia has become “a cash machine”, the management will turn its focus to other core markets in Thailand and Indonesia, which are expected to generate similar profits to Malaysia in the future, according to group CEO Tony Fernandes.

“The other focus is to develop our new entities in Philippines and Japan whereby in terms of LCC penetration, they are still at their infancy and there is utmost growth potential,” he said.

“India is an exciting market, and I have been overwhelmed with the developments of the country recently in terms of promoting air travel. We will continue to explore opportunities there but I believe this market offers the most growth potential in terms of travel.”

Whilst other Asian countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Brunei, Myanmar and South Korea seem attractive, AirAsia will focus on the group’s existing operations that offer bigger domestic alternatives and with larger populations. AirAsia will not proceed with any venture in Singapore in the foreseeable future too, Fernandes revealed, citing excess capacity out of the city-state.

AirAsia recorded a strong performance during the fourth quarter and 2013 is expected to be better in load factors and yields, he reported. The group will announce its full-year results in February.

The company has also placed an order of 475 aircraft, of which 114 have been delivered.

-TTG Asia.