AIRASIA Japan plans to make its second attempt to take off in Japan’s low-cost carrier market by the middle of this year with an announcement expected to be made by the end of this month.
AirAsia co-founder and AirAsia X group chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Kamarudin Meranun said the airline was still waiting for the approval from the Japanese regulators.
“We obviously want to start it soon because we have put two aircraft here. But you have to go through all the regulatory requirements. The only one left now is the test flight. It’s just a question of time,” he said at a press conference with Malaysian media after the launch of AirAsia X Bhd’s route to Honolulu in Hawaii, here, yesterday.
Kamarudin said he had met with AirAsia Japan’s board of directors in Nagoya on Thursday.
AirAsia made its first entry into Japan through a joint-venture (JV) with All Nippon Airways in 2012.
However, the partnership between fell apart a year later due to differences in management styles.
AirAsia then entered into a new JV with Rakuten Inc, Octave Japan Infrastructure Fund I GK, Noevir Holdings Co Ltd and Alpen Co Ltd in July 2014 to re-establish AirAsia Japan.
According to a report by the Centre of Aviation, AirAsia Japan would end this year with five Airbus A320s. It now has two A320s.
On AirAsia X Bhd, Kamarudin said the airline’s third-quarter financial result was good and was showing a positive momentum for 2016.
He was optimistic that the long-haul carrier would do better this year and there would be more synergy between the airline and short-haul sister airline AirAsia Bhd moving forward.
“We will see more collaborations between the short-haul and long-haul (units),” Kamarudin said, adding that AirAsia X would also introduce afternoon flights to short-haul destinations soon.