CAPITAL A Bhd a.k.a AirAsia Group Bhd is a sturdy and stout tree trunk that is capable to withstand any typhoon, tornado or hurricane.
Neither a net loss to the tune of RM5 bil over the FY2020-2021 period nor a Practice Note 17 (PN17) classification can shackle its survival after its budget airline business nosedived and bled profusely.
In the words of group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, the PN17 status would not stand in its way of continuing to raise capital to fund its operations. Even amid severe adversity, the budget airline had thus far succeeded in raising RM2.5 bil in funds – a testament that the PN17 label had “zero effect” on the group.
Against the backdrop of its name change to Capital A, the co-founder of AirAsia went on to reveal that plan is afoot to raise yet another RM1 bil in capital while expressing belief that the new company name will further enhance the marketability of its product offerings, thus boosting the success of the group in the long haul.
While the airline will continue be branded as AirAsia, Capital A will be the investment holding company for the group’s new businesses such food and parcel deliveries, ride-hailing and digital payments.
Agility coupled with self-belief even when stacked against the most extreme of odds has enabled Capital A to continue to ‘shamelessly’ dream big as if there is a great future or that all its financial woes will eventually vanish from sight.
“We have pivoted, we have transformed and we have a five year plan in place which will see non-airline revenues contributing around 50% of overall group revenue by 2026,” envisages Fernandes.
“Once the airlines return to pre-COVID levels in the near future all of our other lines of business will benefit significantly and will all soar to new heights in tandem with one another.”
And the best part about AirAsia that all aspiring entrepreneurs should emulate is that there should be countless news flow which is tantalising to keep your target audience fascinated.
A case in point is how AirAsia paints a bright recovery path of is low-cost airline business despite the sorry state of the aviation industry with the headline “AirAsia achieves top 7/7 safety rating”.
This comes as airlines under the AirAsia Aviation Ltd – a subsidiary of Capital A – have again been conferred the highest safety standards award of a 7/7 rating based on the latest audit by aviation experts at airlineratings.com on Saturday (Feb 5).
Besides AirAsia Malaysia, Thailand, and Philippines receiving this significant recognition for their robust and comprehensive COVID-19 mitigation plans, the airline group was also named as one of the top 20 safest low cost airlines for 2022 by the same panel of experts at airlineratings.com.
The airline group was also among the first to achieve the highest COVID safety ratings from airlineratings.com in 2020 for all the innovations introduced to make flying safer and more hygienic than ever in the new world of air travel.
At 3.45pm, AirAsia Group was down 1.5 sen or 2.61% to 56 sen with 9.84 million shares traded, thus valuing the airline at RM 2.33 bil. – Feb 7, 2022.
