’s Businessman of the Year in 2010 and put the partners on the list of Malaysia’s 50 Richest. But they dropped off in 2021, due to the carrier’s share-price tumble from the pandemic.
Fernandes expects AirAsia’s business will be enhanced by its superapp, which includes financial services. Capital A’s fintech unit BigPay claims it gives the best exchange rates for remittances. “We’ve created fintech around [the Super App], which is a natural extension when you travel,” he says.After hefty losses in recent years rooted in Covid-19 woes, AirAsia is expected to return to the black next year amid a resurgence in travel demand.
AirAsia—which flies to all ten ASEAN countries—“can be a very strong digital travel company,” says Fernandes, pictured here with AirAsia staff.The Cambodia venture is a partnership between Capital A, which will have a 51% share, and Phnom Penh-based Sivilai Asia, with 49%.
While AirAsia put about 150 airplanes back in service , the group continues to wrestle with accounting issues after auditor Ernst & Young cast doubt on the group’s ability to continue as a going concern last October, deeming it as a financially distressed company under the Malaysian stock exchange’s Practice Note 17 .AirAsia’s passenger traffic is gradually rebounding from the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic.