AirAsia's Fernandes Discusses New Deal with Airbus on BloombergTV
NEW YORK (TheStreet) --AirAsia has just become Airbus' biggest customer, as a deal, reportedly listed at $12.6 billion, has been agreed upon and could add as many as 100 jetliners to AirAsia's fleet, Bloomberg's Guy Johnsonreported on "European Close" today.
Johnson caught up with AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes at Britain's Farnborough Airshow to discuss the new agreement.
"Let's be real, there are not too many orders going around the airshow. Timing is everything, were very happy on what we've done with airbus," Fernandes said about the new deal.
"Cash is not the main issue here," Fernandes said relaying confidence in terms of financing the deal.
One of the reasons for the deal is that Asia has been playing catch up in terms of supplying proper capacity for their aircrafts. This deal adds around 50 more seats, and allows the airliner to further offer good, competitive pricing.
"I would love to have the aircrafts now to be honest," Fernandes added.
However, concerns remain that AirAsia is still placing all its eggs in the Chinese market, and the country in general.
"Asia is not just about China, there are 3 billion people in Asia. If you look right now southeast Asia is having a rough time, but were having a record loads, were going to have a record profit year, and people want to fly, the market is huge," Fernandes said dispelling the notion that this acquisition is a giant bet on solely China.
That being said, he did mention that growth in China has been fantastic.
Moreover, there has been some rumblings about a potential dual listing for Fernandes company. AirAsia is studying a dual listing in Hong Kong, in part of a potential plan to become a pan-Asian low-cost airliner, Reuters reports
"As my position as CEO I believe we should be looking at it, but the board is right in saying nothing serious has been firmed up," Fernandes concluded.