AirAsia Group chief executive Tony Fernandes says the group has no plans to establish new subsidiaries over the next three years, apart from a unit in Vietnam. In a series of tweets, Fernandes says the low-cost carrier will focus its efforts on launching AirAsia Vietnam, as well as making Indonesia AirAsia and AirAsia Philippines “very profitable”. Last December, AirAsia signed a memorandum of cooperation with Thien minh Travel for a Vietnamese joint venture.
Meanwhile, AirAsia‘s Indonesia and Philippines units, which have suffered losses over the years, have had their financials incorporated into the Group since the start of 2017. AirAsia has said that it is planning for a secondary listing for its Indonesia operations in fiscal 2019.
Fernandes is also expecting AirAsia India and AirAsia Japan to be profitable by 2021. AirAsia India is working towards launching international services while AirAsia Japan plans to start connecting to points in North Asia.
“We have a great seam[less] franchise. Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam… All the major populations and growing economies. Coupled with two great countries to enable us to cover the world – India and Japan.”
The AirAsia Group previously had plans to launch a China unit and signed a MoU in May 2017. The pact with China Everbright Group and the Henan Government Working Group however lapsed in August 2018.