AirAsia Malaysia Plans More Rapid Expansion For 2019 Despite Infrastructure Challenges

In this comprehensive interview, AirAsia Malaysia CEO Riad Asmat discusses the outlook and plans for 2019. AirAsia Malaysia plans to take five or six additional A320s in 2019, including its first A321neos. AirAsia Malaysia plans to expand from all five of its bases in 2019 but Mr Riad says infrastructure and resource issues are increasingly challenging as the airline is struggling to find pilots and parking bays. Mr Asmat joined AirAsia in Jan-2018 and talks about the steep learning curve associated with entering the airline industry and the LCC’s performance in his first year at the helm. AirAsia Malaysia has launched several new destinations in 2018, including four in the fourth quarter (Ipoh and Kuantan in Malaysia, Phu Quoc in Vietnam and Silangit in Indonesia). It also has added several new point-to-point routes and has increased frequencies to several existing routes. AirAsia Malaysia is the largest airline in the AirAsia Group, operating 94 A320s to 56 international and 17 domestic destinations.