Indonesia AirAsia to continue with IPO plans

Indonesia AirAsia (IAA) president commissioner Sendjaja Widjaja stated on 23-Jan-2011 the company will continue with plans to go public, and inject capital required for its fleet expansion plans (The Jakarta Post, 24-Jan-2011). The Indonesian Aviation Regulation No.1, 2009 requires operators to own a minimum of five aircraft in 2012. For it to continue operating in Indonesia, the carrier will need to raise USD424.5 million to purchase five aircraft.

Indonesia AirAsia: "IAA shareholders are currently working on plans for the IPO, and we hope we will be ready to offer our shares publicly by the second semester of 2011. The capitals we hope to gain from this will be used to cover our operational costs and to purchase two new A320 aircraft, but this plan is still a draft plan that has not been finalised, as there have been talks about purchasing five aircraft instead of just two - in order to comply with Indonesian Aviation Regulation No 1, 2009. We are still deciding which underwriter company to use. The selection process has been going since Dec-2010, and we aim to have chosen an underwriter by Feb-2011. We want a large, international and committed company to do this job as they will determine the value of the shares and amount [of shares] we can offer," president commissioner Sendjaja Widjaja. Source: The Jakarta Post, 24-Jan-2011.