AirAsia (AK, Kuala Lumpur International) has ceased negotiations with its undisclosed Myanma partner which, had they been successful, would have lead to the creation of a new joint-venture airline in the country, AirAsia Group Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes has said during an event in Bangkok.
"We are not moving ahead with Myanmar at the moment. We might revisit that but we’ve decided not to go into Myanmar just yet," Fernandes was quoted by Reuters.
The Asian low-cost group had earlier announced plans to establish a unit in Myanmar through a joint-venture with an existing local partner. According to the ch-aviation capacity module, the group's footprint in Myanmar is currently limited to a total of 28 weekly departures out of Yangon (to Kuala Lumpur International and Bangkok Don Mueang) and seven out of Mandalay International (to Bangkok Don Mueang).
The group also has active subsidiaries in Thailand (Thai AirAsia and Thai AirAsia X), India (AirAsia India), Indonesia (Indonesia AirAsia and Indonesia AirAsia X), the Philippines (Philippines AirAsia), and Japan (AirAsia Japan), as well as a separate long-haul unit in its home Malaysian market (AirAsia X).
Besides the now-stalled venture in Myanmar, AirAsia Group is also in the process of setting up AirAsia Cambodia (2017) and AirAsia China. Fernandes has also said that he expects AirAsia's new Vietnamese subsidiary to be operational by the end of 2018 or in early 2019.
The group has also pitched an idea of a local LCC to the government of Sri Lanka.
In July 2017, Fernandes said he would be keen to bring all the group's units under a single corporate structure.
Fernandes also, once again, reaffirmed the group's commitment to Airbus's A330neo product for its long-haul units.
