Bangkok--22 Apr--AirAsia
Asia Aviation Plc. or AAV, listed company and a major shareholder of Thai AirAsia, held ‘AAV Open House’ at the Stock Exchange of Thailand today (21 April) to assure its investors it would be continuing its operation plans and to affirm that developments from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) would not impact the ability of Thai AirAsia to operate all of its flights as scheduled. The company reiterated it would achieve its 2015 targets of acquiring 5 new aircraft (bringing its fleet total to 45 by year’s end), serving 14.5 million people and adding 3-4 new routes during the latter half of the year.
Mr. Tassapon Bijleveld, CEO of Thai AirAsia and AAV Plc., pointed out that the ICAO’s discovery of a Significant Safety Concern (SSC) during its audit of the Department of Civil Aviation, Thailand has not in any way affected AAV and Thai AirAsia, which have both been able to operate as usual. He assured the situation would not impact the company’s 2015 targets that include maintaining a Load Factor of 83% and increasing its passenger total to 14.5 million people.
Mr. Tassapon voiced confidence that the Department of Civil Aviation, Thailand will be able to remedy the current situation by July 2015, noting the agency’s diligence in the matter and its promise to supply progress reports to the ICAO every 1-2 weeks. He affirmed Thai AirAsia will provide its full cooperation to the Department of Civil Aviation, Thailand.
“The situation will not impact Thai AirAsia’s expansion plans in the latter half of the year. We continue to be able to operate all of our flights as scheduled and our plans to add 3-4 new routes during the second half of the year have not been impeded as the countries we have targeted are Nepal, India, Lao, the Philippines and Indonesia, which are not affected by the ICAO’s announcement. Pertaining to our plan to add a new route to China in October, if the Department of Civil Aviation, Thailand is able to complete its revisions by July, the plan should not be impacted. Regardless, if the department is not able to achieve its revisions by that time, we have already begun seeking out alternatives” Mr. Tassapon elaborated.
On effects to Thai AirAsia X, Mr. Tassapon noted that flights from Don Mueang to Narita (Tokyo), Kansai (Osaka) and Incheon (Seoul) continue to operate as usual and that the Don Mueang-Sapporo route will be able to operate as planned from May-June with negotiations already ongoing with the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau as to the future of the route. He voiced belief that the Department of Civil Aviation, Thailand and Japan Civil Aviation Bureau will be able to find a resolution while noting that AAV does not hold any shares in Thai AirAsia X, thus any complications would not result in effects to AAV’s performance.