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Larger Fleet Now AirAsia’s Growth-Driver
15th Nov 2019
Low-cost carrier Thai AirAsia is banking on larger aircrafts to boost its growth, thus the need to increase the number of its fleet.
The carrier said that by next month, Thai AirAsia will start adding the Airbus A321neos in its portfolio on top of two of its large aircraft - A320 classics and A320neos.
“The benefit of the Neos is you get 50 more seats,” Thai AirAsia Executive Chairman Tassapon Bijleveld told Smart Aviation APAC at the sidelines of a travel summit in Singapore.
Bijleveld said that airport slots constraint meant the inability to raise its flight frequency, but its plan to transport more passengers would only be achieved through purchasing larger aircraft.
In particular, the official said the A321 will become “the new standard” for the industry instead of the A320 aircraft.
Meanwhile, the longer model, the A321 XLR, would help airlines as well as Thai AirAsia to penetrate more destinations such as Asian countries, including China.
Bijleveld said that most of Thai AirAsia’s operations have become focused on the international market and that Thailand has become too dependent on Chinese tourist arrivals, the number of which is now dwindling as has Europe.
Corporate travelers only account for the airline’s 3 percent of business, while the rest comes from government employees.
“We were wondering why we were stuck at 18 percent and ancillary was not growing, then we realized it was because of the online travel agents (OTAs),” he said.
He said that OTAs contribute 25 percent of Thai AirAsia’s revenues, but the booking engines often fail to allow consumers to book ancillary services such as meals and seat choices.
Bijleveld said the airline is now in talks with all OTAs it works with to have a high level of functionality in their booking engines and that failure to comply will result in the cancellation of partnerships.
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