Malaysia's Capital A paves way for merger of AirAsia's operations globally

Malaysia’s Capital A Berhad announced its plans to sell its aviation business to AirAsia X Bhd as part of an effort to consolidate its long and short-haul operations under the AirAsia brand. The deal, subject to final agreement and necessary approvals, includes the sale of AirAsia Berhad and AirAsia Aviation Group Ltd. The CEO of AirAsia Group, Tony Fernandes, stated that the full details of the deal will be disclosed in the coming weeks. Fernandes expressed his dream of merging AirAsia X and AirAsia into a single ASEAN airline. AirAsia, founded in 2001, has grown to become one of Asia’s largest budget airlines with a fleet of around 200 planes. Both Capital A and AirAsia X have faced financial challenges due to pandemic-related travel restrictions. The airlines aim to return to pre-pandemic capacity by Q1 2022. Capital A intends to focus on its non-aviation businesses following the sale, including BigPay, Teleport, and airasia MOVE.