AirAsia sanguine on Chinese drop-off
Fernandes: We’ve been through this before
SEPANG: AirAsia supremo Tony Fernandes has vowed to accelerate the airline group’s campaign to woo Chinese tourists back to Thailand.
“We think it is a good opportunity to work with the Thai tourism industry to fill in the gaps from China,” said the chief executive of Asia’s largest low-cost carrier (LCC).
The group will also work with its Chinese team to determine how to revitalise demand from the mainland. Chinese tourist traffic has dropped sharply since September as the Thai government cracked down on notorious “zero-dollar” inbound tourist scams.
Mr Fernandes discounted the effect on LCCs of lower Chinese arrivals to Thailand, saying tour groups usually fly on charter airlines while LCCs rely more on independent travellers.
“We’ve been through many crises in Thailand — from tsunamis to terrorism — so the zero-dollar crackdown is not really a problem for us,” he said.
“The great thing is there is nothing fundamentally wrong with Thailand.”
Travel demand can be created very quickly by offering zero-fare campaigns on AirAsia and people will come, Mr Fernandes said.
The airline is working closely with several Chinese social media sites to send out a message that Thailand remains a great place to visit, still one of the best value-for-money countries to visit that offers a variety of activities, he said.
Mr Fernandes expects Chinese traffic to Thailand to rebound before the Lunar New Year, which is towards the end of January.
Meanwhile, AirAsia awarded a contract yesterday to Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance (AF KLM E&M). The contract calls for AF KLM E&M to provide maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services for AirAsia’s new fleet of Airbus A320neo jets that are scheduled to number 304 by 2028.
AF KLM E&M won the bid against seven other MRO service providers.
AirAsia group has taken delivery of five 320neos, which will replace the fleet of older A320-200s of its subsidiary airlines in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. One such jet has been delivered to Thai AirAsia, with the second due later this month.
The annual value of the 10-year contract is estimated at US$105 million.