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| Nagoya has been removed from locations on planes |
Flights to Nagoya from Malaysia will be scrubbed and Sydney
trips will be less frequent as the airline slows its expansion
to end losses in 2015, Group Chief Executive Officer Kamarudin
Meranun said in an interview Wednesday. The long-haul budget
airline racked up net losses of more than 650 million ringgit
(18 billion yen) since the last quarter of 2013 after “massive”
capacity growth, he said.
The airline, whose shares sank to a record low yesterday,
was hemorrhaging cash even before Malaysia-related carriers lost
three aircraft in accidents last year, emptying seats and
denting the confidence of travelers. A plane belonging to a unit
of AirAsia Bhd., AirAsia X’s second-largest shareholder, crashed
in Indonesia in December killing 162 people.
“The timing wasn’t right,” said Kamarudin, referring to
the company’s expansion. “Who can tell the challenges that we
had in 2014. For now, we are managing it by cutting some of
these routes so we will be able to handle that growth.”
AirAsia X has announced plans to replenish capital and
Kamarudin, co-founder of the broader AirAsia group, is bringing
in a new set of managers to aid the turnaround. He said he is
“fairly confident” of returning the Kuala Lumpur-based carrier
to profit in 2015.
Malaysian Airline System Bhd. lost two aircraft last year -
- MH370 in March and MH17 in July -- and an AirAsia Indonesia
single-aisle jet plunged into the sea on Dec. 28 in the worst
year for Asian aviation in decades.
Bloomberg Business Weekly
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