SELANGOR, Malaysia – A young workforce seeking to escape their high stress jobs are helping drive demand for air travel, AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes said.
Asia’s largest airline will “definitely need more planes,” as it looks to expand to smaller cities, Fernandes said. Of its 293 routes in end 2017, 90 are unique to AirAsia.
Fernandes is reportedly in talks to shore up an order of 66 A330neo planes. He told reporters he had no plans of going to the Farnborough Airshow in Britain this week, where plane makers hope to strike deals with airlines.
“In my father’s generation, pressure was less. He could go back home for lunch and sleep and then go back to work. No one does that anymore,” Fernandes said.
“Now we are working longer hours, it’s high pressure, so people need more holidays,” he said.
AirAsia is growing its market by flying to cities outside the capital, Fernandes said.
“We are now providing more connectivity to smaller places. People wanna fly. They should not need to go to Jakarta or Kuala Lumpur just for a connecting flight,” he said.
Asked about reported negotiations with Airbus, Fernandes said: “We haven’t made any decision but we definitely need more planes.”
AirAsia flew 65.5 million passengers in 21 countries in 2017, using 205 aircraft, according to its annual report. It opened 58 new routes in 2017. (ABS-CBN News)
