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Air Asia Tony Fernandes remains upbeat despite looming recession
AirAsia's Tony Fernandes remains upbeat that the travel industry can succeed despite recession worries and plans to add more planes operating in Indonesia to cater to growing demand.
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Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A (formerly AirAsia Group) speaks during the celebration of the resumption of AirAsia’s operations at Singapore Changi Airport’s Terminal 4 on Sept. 15. (JP/Abdur Rahim)
T
ony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A, who owns low-cost carrier AirAsia, said the travel industry would maintain growth despite recession worries, as he believed economic uncertainties would be unlikely to deter people from spending on flights and tourism.
Tony said people would still travel on short-haul flights with low-cost carriers as holidays had become a key priority in the current post-pandemic market and tourism would not fade amid looming recession in many parts of the world.
“We’ve generally seen a recession is beneficial for us. I always believe no matter what the economic status, if you have the right price and the right product, people will fly,” Tony said in a media discussion on Thursday.
“Give me a recession any day,” he said separately.
Read also: Bumpy takeoff for aviation, tourism sectors this year
In line with Tony’s positive outlook, AirAsia Indonesia, the airline’s local subsidiary, plans to operate 32 aircraft this year, twice the amount of 16 aircraft last year, which also exceeded the number of aircraft operated before the pandemic at 28 aircrafts in 2019.
In 2022, AirAsia Indonesia saw its passengers jump by a threefold increase to 3.24 million, from the previous year of just 801,673 passengers, according to the company’s earnings report.
