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AirAsia X seeking lease payment deferrals, report:
February 28th 2020
Low-cost carrier (LCC) AirAsia X has spoken to leasing companies about potentially pushing back some lease payments to support the airline as it battles the coronavirus outbreak, FlightGlobal reported this week. Read More » The report said one lessor was open to discussing deferrals with airlines experiencing cash flow issues. However, the lessor was "not a soft touch", FlightGlobal reported, adding a three-month rental holiday, for example, would not be acceptable.
Separately, AirAsia X’s parent, the AirAsia Group, said the group may not meet its internal projections for 2020 because of COVID-19, but that it was acting to reduce the impact of the coronavirus on the company.
Acting CEO and president, Bo Lingam, said in a statement yesterday that “this includes active capacity management since early February, an aggressive marketing push to pursue market share, redeployng capacity to domestic and intra-Asean flights and engaging and collaborating with industry stakeholders and authorities for incentives, discounts and rebates”.
The group reported a net loss of 384.5 million ringgit (US$ 91.2 million) for the three months to December 31, falling below forecasts of a profit for the period. Long-haul AirAsia X reported a larger loss of 95.8 million ringgit for the quarter compared with 88.1 million ringgit a year ago.
“Forward ticket bookings are also trending lower and fares are expected to be under pressure for the next couple of months," the airline said.
The Kuala Lumpur-headquartered group said it had hedged 73% of its fuel requirements for the year at US$59.71 per barrel and 10% of its 2021 fuel needs at $59.45 a barrel.
