Airlines facing biggest challenge — Fernandes

MANILA, Philippines — AirAsia Group chief executive officer Tony Fernandes said the low cost carrier is facing its biggest challenge to date, but assured that the company is undertaking all measures to stay afloat amid uncertainties.

“It’s an uncertain time. Never could I have imagined it, no one could have predicted it and yet everyone has been touched by it,” Fernandes said in a statement.

“There’s no denying that our industry has been hit hard, and we are no exception. This is possibly the biggest challenge we have ever had to face. We have no revenue coming in, 96 percent of our fleet is grounded and we still have significant ongoing financial commitments such as fuel suppliers and leasing agents,” he said.

Fernandes said AirAsia is doing everything possible to reduce costs during this time so that it could “come back fighting as fast as possible.”

At present, he said the carrier is one of the few airlines in the world which has kept all of its staff on despite the difficulties.

“Kamarudin (Menarum) and I will not be taking a salary during this period and all staffs from across the business have accepted temporary pay reductions of anywhere between 15 and 75 percent, depending on seniority, to share the impact this is having on our business,” he said.

In the Philippines, the family of Rep. Michael “Mikee” Romero, through F&S Holdings owns 60 percent of AirAsia Inc., operator of AirAsia Philippines, while the remaining 40 percent are owned by Air Asia Bhd founders Fernandes and Kamarudin.

AirAsia Philippines has cancelled all domestic and international flights until April 30 as the community quarantine in Luzon is extended by another two weeks.

“While we strongly encourage you to accept the credit which is instant and comes with a 365-day validity and allows you to change your flight date for an unlimited number of times, we do accept requests for refund on a case to case basis. However, due to the overwhelming number of requests that we have received, it may take a long process of between 12 and 16 weeks,” Fernandes said.

“We’ve never had a time like this before and we are doing our best. This is unprecedented, but it is also temporary and we will be back, stronger than before, repainting the skies red and making sure everyone can fly again,” he said.